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About
Criminologist, Scholar, & Consultant
Jeffrey Ian Ross, Ph.D., is a criminologist at the University of Baltimore and co-founder of Convict Criminology. His approach is shaped by nearly a decade of work before entering academia, as a courier, cab driver, corrections worker, and union shop steward. It is further grounded in three decades of visiting correctional facilities across North America, Europe, and South America, researching the conditions inside them, and having conversations with convicts and correctional officers and administrators. It also draws on interviews with formerly incarcerated people outside those facilities, and on ethnographic fieldwork on street culture and on graffiti and street art internationally. Ross has published more than thirty books and shares his expertise on corrections, policing, political crime, street culture, and graffiti and street art through scholarship, public writing, speaking, media commentary, and consulting.
Reading Codrescu’s NEW ORLEANS, MON AMOUR
/by Jeffrey Ian RossApéritif One of my favorite books is New Orleans, Mon Amour: Twenty Years of Writings from the City by Andrei Codrescu. A poet, essayist, novelist, and professor emeritus at Louisiana State University, Codrescu is also widely known for his commentaries on National Public Radio. Published in 2006, New Orleans, Mon Amour is primarily a collection […]
What Are the Most Important Questions to Ask About US Prison Conditions?
/by Jeffrey Ian RossIn the United States, numerous standards have been developed for the operation of correctional facilities. States and the federal government have constitutional protections. Professional bodies like the American Correctional Association and the American Jail Association offer accreditation. Courts have weighed in repeatedly. And yet most people who have spent time inside a correctional facility as […]
Why I Keep a Shopping Bag I Rescued from the Trash in Berlin
/by Jeffrey Ian RossThis past week, I rescued my favorite reusable shopping bag from our own trash bin. My wife had thrown it away. This wasn’t because it was splitting at the seams; I only noticed that after I rescued it. She threw it away because she’s never liked it. And this isn’t the first time I’ve rescued […]