{{Short description|American sociologist}} '''John Keith Irwin''' (May 21, 1929 – January 3, 2010) was an American sociologist and criminologist who wrote about the American prison system.<ref name="SFGate">[https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Criminal-turned-criminologist-John-Irwin-dies-3205069.php San Francisco Chronicle. "Irwin, John." Wednesday, January 6, 2010].</ref> He published dozens of scholarly articles and seven books on the topic.
==Early life and education== Irwin was raised in Los Angeles. In 1952, he robbed a gas station and served a five-year prison term for armed robbery mostly at the Soledad Prison in the Salinas Valley. He finished a semester in college via correspondence. After his release he earned a bachelor's degree at the University of California, Los Angeles. He went on to receive his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. Irwin later became a professor and chaired the Meagan Coveney sociology department at San Francisco State University, where he taught for 27 years until his retirement.<ref name="sfgate.com">[http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Criminal-turned-criminologist-John-Irwin-dies-3205069.php Fagan "Criminal Turned Criminologist John Irwin Dies], ''San Francisco Chronicle'', January 7, 2010. Retrieved 18 November 2016.</ref><ref name="sentencingproject.org">[http://www.sentencingproject.org/detail/news.cfm?news_id=838&id=167 The Sentencing Project. "John Irwin: Scholar, Activist, Convict Criminologist." January 5, 2010.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718181211/http://www.sentencingproject.org/detail/news.cfm?news_id=838&id=167 |date=July 18, 2011 }}</ref>
==Career== In 1967 Irwin founded Project Rebound, a program which helps those coming out of prison go to college.<ref name="sentencingproject.org"/> Irwin co-founded the Prisoners Union in 1971, which organized inmates to push for their civil rights and worked closely with the California legislature on the Uniform Sentencing Act passed in 1976.<ref name="SFGate"/><ref name="convictcriminology.org">[http://www.convictcriminology.org/ Richards, Stephen C., et al. "John Irwin 1929 - 2010." Convict Criminology. January 5, 2010.]</ref> At a panel presentation at the American Society of Criminology's annual conference in 1997, Irwin helped officially establish the Convict Criminology movement, in which convicts who became professors critically examine the criminal justice system.<ref name="sfgate.com"/><ref name="sentencingproject.org"/> In 1985 he received the August Vollmer award from the American Society of Criminology.<ref name="convictcriminology.org"/>
==Death== Irwin died on January 3, 2010, at the age of 80.<ref name="SFGate" />
==Bibliography== *1970 - ''The Felon'' ({{ISBN|978-0520060166}}) *1971 - ''The Struggle for Justice'' *1973 - ''[https://archive.org/details/outsidersusaorig0000spie/page/242/ The Ex-Prisoner]'' (book chapter co-authored with Don Spiegel in ''Outsiders USA'' ({{ISBN|0-03-080263-6}})) *1980 - ''[https://archive.org/details/prisonsinturmoil0000john Prisons in Turmoil]'' ({{ISBN|978-0673395849}}) *1985 - ''The Jail: Managing the Underclass in American Society'' ({{ISBN|978-0520060326}}, 2nd ed. with new foreword by Jonathan Simon 2013, {{ISBN|978-0520277342}}) *2000 - ''It's About Time: America's Imprisonment Binge'' ({{ISBN|978-0534514983}}) *2004 - ''The Warehouse Prison: Disposal of the New Dangerous Class'' ({{ISBN|978-0195330472}}) *2009 - ''Lifers: The Long Road to Redemption'' ({{ISBN|978-0415801980}})
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.sfsu.edu/~rebound/ Project Rebound] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110718181211/http://www.sentencingproject.org/detail/news.cfm?news_id=838&id=167 John Irwin: scholar, activist, convict criminologist]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Irwin, John Keith}} Category:1929 births Category:2010 deaths Category:American sociologists Category:Prisoners and detainees of California Category:San Francisco State University faculty Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni