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83 Prison J. 3 (2003)

handle is hein.journals/prsjrnl83 and id is 1 raw text is: THE WEB OF STEEL AND THE HEART OF THE EAGLE: THE CONTEXTUAL INTERFACE OF AMERICAN CORRECTIONS AND NATIVE AMERICANS WILLIAM G. ARCHAMBEAULT Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge This article introduces this special edition of The Prison Journal, entitled American Corrections andNative Americans. Examinedfirst is the historic web of steel that cre- ates the context of interface between correctional control and American Indian Peo- ples. The web of steel is a metaphor for the policies and actions of European and American governments that enslave the eagle spirit of Indian Peoples to be free. Strands of this web include, but are not limited to, slavery, ethnic cleansing, confine- ment and starvation on reservations, Indian boarding schools, continuing theft of Indian lands and natural resources, correctional control and institutionalized dis- crimination, crime victimization, correctional control, and the benign neglect of aca- demic criminology and criminal justice. For Indian Peoples, being under some form of correctional control is a continuation of ancestral experiences. The second major part of this article introduces the contributing authors to this special edition and their respective articles. Keywords: web of steel; correctional control; native diversity; institutional- ized discrimination On behalf of the other authors of this publication, I would like to thank Rosemary Gido, Ph.D., editor of the historically renowned The Prison Journal, for her enthusiasm, patience, and help in assembling this special edition. When the idea of this special edition was first introduced several years ago, Rosemary enthusiastically embraced the idea. Her support for the project ran counter to a long history of benign neglect on the part of mainstream criminological and criminal justice journals, which have historically ignored American Indian crime, justice, and corrections issues. Her support marks one of the very few times in current history that a major academic and corrections-field-specific journal dedicated itself to American Indian issues. Her leadership in this area prompted at least one other journal to attempt a special edition on the topic. THE PRISON JOURNAL, Vol. 83 No. 1, March 2003 3-25 DOI: 10.1177/0032885502250376 D 2003 Sage Publications 3