As a timely addition to the legacy of John Irwin, The Culture of Urban Control offers an in-depth—and sophisticated—snapshot of jail overcrowding in Chicago. With a critical eye on the conditions of confinement, litigation, and the media, Dr. Walsh delivers a complex picture of current penal reform.

Michael Welch, Rutgers University

Although neglected by criminologists, the jail plays a crucial role in shaping urban communities, and none more so than the massive and storied Cook County Jail in Chicago. John Walsh’s fascinating analysis therefore makes a welcome contribution to the criminology of social control.

Shadd Maruna, Chair of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, University of Liverpool; author of Making Good: How Ex-Convicts Reform and Rebuild Their Lives

Peppered through this account are glimmers of light revealing what happens within the day-to-day working of the Cook County criminal justice system, what occurred among the various stakeholders associations with problems typical of large urban criminal justice systems, and what resulted from judicial and other efforts to ameliorate and resolve disputes affecting the operations and outcomes of Chicago’s jail. A 'prospector' digging for 'gold' will find some within these pages. . . .[T]he author’s focus on an urban jail, [is]valuable, and should be worthy of starting a broader conversation about the role and operation of jails.

The ICCA Journal