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| Dr. Danielle Rudes |
The honor recognizes the best book published in the area of criminal justice. “I was so excited,” Dr. Rudes said. “Books take a tremendous amount of time and work to publish. To receive this recognition for my very first book is quite an honor.”
When Dr. Rudes and her research team first began conducting interviews in restricted housing units, she didn’t initially set out to write a book. It was data from their research that she found fascinating which inspired her to write Surviving Solitary. “We spent six and a half years in nine different institutions doing interviews with both residents and staff,” Rudes said. “The first couple of years, the questions were very broad. We narrowed down and focused our questions based on the answers. My team found there were questions that needed deeper dives. So, we went back to ask those questions.”
The biggest challenge Dr. Rudes says she expected to face when beginning her research was access to the restricted housing units, however that part turned out to be fairly easy thanks to a very cooperative correctional department. She says her research team played an integral role with the successful outcome of gathering data and in turn getting the book published. Dr. Shannon Magnusson, a PhD student at the time, was part of that research team. “Being part of telling the Surviving Solitary story was a true privilege,” Dr. Magnusson said. “To me, the ACJS Outstanding Book award honors all the people who shared their stories with us.”
Dr. Rudes says Surviving Solitary is a unique book on this research topic, because it not only provides a pathway for these stories to be heard, it also provides researchers, via the final appendix, a detailed accounting of how the work was conducted. She hopes this publication will open doors for future research opportunities. “Getting into prisons is challenging, but it can be done,” Rudes said. “I want people to see it is possible and there’s work to do in there. The staff and residents are counting on us to hear them, see them, and make sure they are not forgotten.”
For more information about the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, visit their website, www.acjs.org. For more information about Dr. Rudes’ scholarly career, visit her faculty bio page on the SHSU College of Criminal Justice’s website.
