No Bond but the Law by Diana PatonCall Number: *WSU E-book; Purdy-Kresge: HV 9323 .A5 P38 2004
Publication Date: 2004
Investigating the cultural, social, and political histories of punishment during ninety years surrounding the 1838 abolition of slavery in Jamaica, Paton challenges standard historiographies of slavery and discipline. The book reveals the longstanding relationship between state formation and private punishment. The construction of a dense, state-organized system of prisons began with the peak of slave-based wealth in Jamaica, in the 1780s. Emphasizing the gendered nature of penal policy and practice throughout the emancipation period, Paton is attentive to the ways in which the actions of ordinary Jamaicans and, in particular, of women prisoners, shaped state decisions.