The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

"He was an uncommon man."
Founded movements

In 1967, after he began teaching at S.F. State, Mr. Irwin founded Project Rebound, a program on the campus that helps those coming out of prison go to college. Over the ensuing decades, he co-founded the now-defunct Prisoners Union, which organized inmates to push for their civil rights, as well as the Convict Criminology movement, in which convicts who became professors critically examine the criminal justice system.

He was also on the board of directors of the Sentencing Project, the national organization that advocates prison reform and alternatives to incarceration.

"John always challenged us to think in bold ways about what kind of justice system, and society, we hoped to achieve," Sentencing Project Executive Director Marc Mauer wrote in a tribute on the organization's Web site this week. "And he did so with humor, grace and intelligence."

Mr. Irwin was born and raised in Los Angeles, where his father, Roy Irwin, sold insurance and ran a candy store, and his mother, Eloise Irwin, was a homemaker. As a teenager he became fascinated with what he called "the life" of being an outlaw, said his wife, Martha Rosenbaum - and that led to his life-altering ensnarement with the criminal justice system.

He robbed a gas station, and while serving time he began to realize that education and going straight was a better alternative, she said.

"Prison really turned John around," Rosenbaum said. "He took care of his health, he went to school, and eventually he made it on the outside by transitioning from criminal to criminologist."
Pushed rehabilitation

Disturbed at what he saw as an unfair system of sentencing the poor to long prison terms rather than finding more rehabilitative alternatives, Mr. Irwin decided to devote his life's work to bettering the lot of convicts.

After being paroled, he earned a bachelor's degree in sociology at UCLA in 1962. He was hired five years later at S.F. State and taught there until retiring in 1994. He earned his doctorate at UC Berkeley in 1969.

Mr. Irwin's first book, an examination of career criminal behavior called "The Felon," became an instant classic in the field of criminology when published in 1970. The others that followed, including "Prisons in Turmoil" and "The Warehouse Prison," became touchstones of the prison reform movement. His last published book, last year's "Lifers," examined the struggle for redemption by convicts serving life terms.
'A remarkable man'

In between his more serious pursuits, Mr. Irwin found time to surf, ski, make furniture, root on the Giants and 49ers, and father three daughters and a son. He met his wife of 38 years when she was one of his graduate students.

"He was smart, had a sense of humor, had wisdom, and he was good-looking," said Rosenbaum, director emerita of the San Francisco office of the Drug Policy Alliance. "My husband was a remarkable man."

Mr. Irwin is survived by his wife; daughters Jeanette Irwin of Washington, D.C., Katie Irwin of Honolulu and Anne Irwin of San Francisco; and son Johnny Irwin of San Francisco.

A service for family and friends will be held at 4 p.m. Friday at the Golden Gate Club, 135 Fisher Loop at the Presidio in San Francisco.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Mr. Irwin's name can be made to the J.K. Irwin Foundation, which funds prison and drug reform, at 2233 Lombard St., San Francisco, CA 94123.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/07/BA091BE9R2.DTL

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January 5, 2010
Taken from an email from The Sentencing Project
John Irwin

The Sentencing Project joins the criminal justice reform community in mourning the loss of our board member, friend and colleague, John Irwin, who died on January 3rd in San Francisco at the age of 80. John Irwin was proud to be a "convict criminologist" and advocate for social justice.

Hardly typical

Irwin's path to academia was hardly typical, beginning with a five-year prison term for armed robbery in 1952 in Soledad Prison. During his time in prison he earned 24 college credits through a university extension program, the kind of programming that he would later note had been all but eliminated in most prison systems today. Upon his release he received a B.A. from UCLA and then earned his Ph. D. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. He then was offered a faculty position at San Francisco State University, where he taught for 27 years before his retirement.
renowned author

Throughout his career John combined a passion for scholarship with engagement for social justice. The author of six highly-regarded books analyzing the institutions of the criminal justice system, his insights in such works as "The Felon" and "The Jail" provided cogent analyses of the interaction between the structure of the justice system and the individuals processed through that system. His research and writing examined aspects of the system that were often not popular to take on, such as his last book, "Lifers: The Long Road to Redemption," based on his lengthy interviews with people serving life sentences in a California prison.
founder of 'Convict Criminology'

John Irwin was also notable as one of the founders and leading lights of what has been termed the "convict criminology" movement. Begun in 1997 at a panel presentation at the American Society of Criminology's annual conference, the movement presented a means by which the growing number of people with prison experiences who had earned doctorate degrees and entered academia could bring forward their unique perspectives on the justice system. Since that time, through public presentations and scholarship, the group has presented an assessment of justice issues based on the fact that, as John said, "you can never get away from your prison experience."

Supporter of Reform

In his first years out of prison John had already become intimately engaged with movements for reform. In 1969 he founded Project Rebound at San Francisco State University, a program designed to open up a path to college for people coming out of prison. He then served on the working party of the American Friends Service Committee that produced "Struggle for Justice" in 1971, a highly influential book at the time for its critique of punishment and its arbitrary imposition.

At The Sentencing Project we were privileged to have John Irwin join our board of directors in 2005. His engagement, personal warmth, and passion for justice inspired the work of the organization. Even within an organization committed to a broad view of change, John always challenged us to think in bold ways about what kind of justice system, and society, we hoped to achieve. And he did so with humor, grace, and intelligence.