Author: Patricia Farren
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1780880510
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 249
Book Description
Show Me the Prisoner is written from the perspective of a prison teacher who later served on the prison monitoring body. It covers a 15-year period of involvement in two of Northern Ireland’s prisons during the troubles, when terrorists hogged the limelight. They met in prison where she taught classes. Now estranged from his family, the young man had spent most of his life either in care or in one or other of Northern Ireland’s prisons. She set out to help him. He knuckled down and achieved a university place. Time done, he could move on. But was it all too good to be true? ‘Hah,’ predicted a prison officer, ‘If yous teachers think yous are going to change any of them boys, let me tell you...’ Headlines appeared in newspapers and on radio branding him ‘Ulster’s most feared prisoner’, predicting that one day Charlie Conlon would kill somebody. ‘Hannibal’, they dubbed him. Convinced he was the victim of institutional racism and sectarianism, Charlie believed he was guilty only of the rage of the powerless and the downtrodden. Witnessing how the system treated him, did he have a point? A meeting with his mother and brother and an internet search for relatives in the USA threw interesting new light on his father’s tour in Vietnam. It was then that his mother became evasive. On her deathbed mother and son were reconciled, and for the first time Charlie learned his true identity. But was it all too late?Show Me the Prisoner is a criminal justice memoir of Irish interest that will appeal to readers who enjoy social history. Patricia is inspired by Sister Helen Prejean’s Dead Man Walking, a story she would love to have written.
Show Me the Prisoner
Author: Patricia Farren
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1780880510
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 249
Book Description
Show Me the Prisoner is written from the perspective of a prison teacher who later served on the prison monitoring body. It covers a 15-year period of involvement in two of Northern Ireland’s prisons during the troubles, when terrorists hogged the limelight. They met in prison where she taught classes. Now estranged from his family, the young man had spent most of his life either in care or in one or other of Northern Ireland’s prisons. She set out to help him. He knuckled down and achieved a university place. Time done, he could move on. But was it all too good to be true? ‘Hah,’ predicted a prison officer, ‘If yous teachers think yous are going to change any of them boys, let me tell you...’ Headlines appeared in newspapers and on radio branding him ‘Ulster’s most feared prisoner’, predicting that one day Charlie Conlon would kill somebody. ‘Hannibal’, they dubbed him. Convinced he was the victim of institutional racism and sectarianism, Charlie believed he was guilty only of the rage of the powerless and the downtrodden. Witnessing how the system treated him, did he have a point? A meeting with his mother and brother and an internet search for relatives in the USA threw interesting new light on his father’s tour in Vietnam. It was then that his mother became evasive. On her deathbed mother and son were reconciled, and for the first time Charlie learned his true identity. But was it all too late?Show Me the Prisoner is a criminal justice memoir of Irish interest that will appeal to readers who enjoy social history. Patricia is inspired by Sister Helen Prejean’s Dead Man Walking, a story she would love to have written.
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1780880510
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 249
Book Description
Show Me the Prisoner is written from the perspective of a prison teacher who later served on the prison monitoring body. It covers a 15-year period of involvement in two of Northern Ireland’s prisons during the troubles, when terrorists hogged the limelight. They met in prison where she taught classes. Now estranged from his family, the young man had spent most of his life either in care or in one or other of Northern Ireland’s prisons. She set out to help him. He knuckled down and achieved a university place. Time done, he could move on. But was it all too good to be true? ‘Hah,’ predicted a prison officer, ‘If yous teachers think yous are going to change any of them boys, let me tell you...’ Headlines appeared in newspapers and on radio branding him ‘Ulster’s most feared prisoner’, predicting that one day Charlie Conlon would kill somebody. ‘Hannibal’, they dubbed him. Convinced he was the victim of institutional racism and sectarianism, Charlie believed he was guilty only of the rage of the powerless and the downtrodden. Witnessing how the system treated him, did he have a point? A meeting with his mother and brother and an internet search for relatives in the USA threw interesting new light on his father’s tour in Vietnam. It was then that his mother became evasive. On her deathbed mother and son were reconciled, and for the first time Charlie learned his true identity. But was it all too late?Show Me the Prisoner is a criminal justice memoir of Irish interest that will appeal to readers who enjoy social history. Patricia is inspired by Sister Helen Prejean’s Dead Man Walking, a story she would love to have written.
Prisoner B-3087
Author: Alan Gratz
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 0545520711
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 190
Book Description
From Alan Gratz, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Refugee, comes this wrenching novel about one boy's struggle to survive ten concentration camps during the Holocaust. Based on the inspiring true life story of Jack Gruener. 10 concentration camps. 10 different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly. It's something no one could imagine surviving. But it is what Yanek Gruener has to face. As a Jewish boy in 1930s Poland, Yanek is at the mercy of the Nazis who have taken over. Everything he has, and everyone he loves, have been snatched brutally from him. And then Yanek himself is taken prisoner -- his arm tattooed with the words PRISONER B-3087. He is forced from one nightmarish concentration camp to another, as World War II rages all around him. He encounters evil he could have never imagined, but also sees surprising glimpses of hope amid the horror. He just barely escapes death, only to confront it again seconds later. Can Yanek make it through the terror without losing his hope, his will -- and, most of all, his sense of who he really is inside? Based on an astonishing true story.
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 0545520711
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 190
Book Description
From Alan Gratz, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Refugee, comes this wrenching novel about one boy's struggle to survive ten concentration camps during the Holocaust. Based on the inspiring true life story of Jack Gruener. 10 concentration camps. 10 different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly. It's something no one could imagine surviving. But it is what Yanek Gruener has to face. As a Jewish boy in 1930s Poland, Yanek is at the mercy of the Nazis who have taken over. Everything he has, and everyone he loves, have been snatched brutally from him. And then Yanek himself is taken prisoner -- his arm tattooed with the words PRISONER B-3087. He is forced from one nightmarish concentration camp to another, as World War II rages all around him. He encounters evil he could have never imagined, but also sees surprising glimpses of hope amid the horror. He just barely escapes death, only to confront it again seconds later. Can Yanek make it through the terror without losing his hope, his will -- and, most of all, his sense of who he really is inside? Based on an astonishing true story.
I Am (Not) a Number
Author: Alex Cox
Publisher: Oldacastle Books
ISBN: 0857301772
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 105
Book Description
The enormously puzzling TV series The Prisoner has developed a rapt cult following, and has often been described as "surreal" or "Kafkaesque." In I Am (Not) a Number, Cox takes an opposing view. While the series has surreal elements, he believes it provides the answers to all the questions which have confounded viewers: who is Number 6? Who runs The Village? Who—or what—is Number 1? According to Cox, the key is to view the series in the order in which the episodes were made, not in the order of the UK or US television screenings. In this book he does exactly that, and provides an entirely original and controversial "explanation" for what is perhaps the best, and certainly the most perplexing, TV series of all time.
Publisher: Oldacastle Books
ISBN: 0857301772
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 105
Book Description
The enormously puzzling TV series The Prisoner has developed a rapt cult following, and has often been described as "surreal" or "Kafkaesque." In I Am (Not) a Number, Cox takes an opposing view. While the series has surreal elements, he believes it provides the answers to all the questions which have confounded viewers: who is Number 6? Who runs The Village? Who—or what—is Number 1? According to Cox, the key is to view the series in the order in which the episodes were made, not in the order of the UK or US television screenings. In this book he does exactly that, and provides an entirely original and controversial "explanation" for what is perhaps the best, and certainly the most perplexing, TV series of all time.
A Bit of a Stretch
Author: Chris Atkins
Publisher: Atlantic Books
ISBN: 1838950168
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 342
Book Description
'Shocking, scathing, entertaining.' Guardian 'Incredibly compelling.' The Times 'Heart-breaking.' Sunday Times Where can a tin of tuna buy you clean clothes? Where is it easier to get 'spice' than paracetamol? Where does self-harm barely raise an eyebrow? Welcome to Her Majesty's Prison Service. Like most people, documentary-maker Chris Atkins didn't spend much time thinking about prisons. But after becoming embroiled in a dodgy scheme to fund his latest film, he was sent down for five years. His new home would be HMP Wandsworth, one of the largest and most dysfunctional prisons in Europe. With a cast of characters ranging from wily drug dealers to senior officials bent on endless reform, this powerful memoir uncovers the horrifying reality behind the locked gates. Filled with dark humour and shocking stories, A Bit of a Stretch reveals why our creaking prison system is sorely costing us all - and why you should care.
Publisher: Atlantic Books
ISBN: 1838950168
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 342
Book Description
'Shocking, scathing, entertaining.' Guardian 'Incredibly compelling.' The Times 'Heart-breaking.' Sunday Times Where can a tin of tuna buy you clean clothes? Where is it easier to get 'spice' than paracetamol? Where does self-harm barely raise an eyebrow? Welcome to Her Majesty's Prison Service. Like most people, documentary-maker Chris Atkins didn't spend much time thinking about prisons. But after becoming embroiled in a dodgy scheme to fund his latest film, he was sent down for five years. His new home would be HMP Wandsworth, one of the largest and most dysfunctional prisons in Europe. With a cast of characters ranging from wily drug dealers to senior officials bent on endless reform, this powerful memoir uncovers the horrifying reality behind the locked gates. Filled with dark humour and shocking stories, A Bit of a Stretch reveals why our creaking prison system is sorely costing us all - and why you should care.
Prisoner of War
Author: Michael P. Spradlin
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 0545861519
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 239
Book Description
He lied about his age to enlist. Now he'll have to lie about everything else to survive! Survive the war. Outlast the enemy. Stay alive. That's what Henry Forrest has to do. When he lies about his age to join the Marines, Henry never imagines he'll face anything worse than his own father's cruelty. But his unit is shipped off to the Philippines, where the heat is unbearable, the conditions are brutal, and Henry's dreams of careless adventuring are completely dashed.Then the Japanese invade the islands, and US forces there surrender. As a prisoner of war, Henry faces one horror after another. Yet among his fellow captives, he finds kindness, respect, even brotherhood. A glimmer of light in the darkness. And he'll need to hold tight to the hope they offer if he wants to win the fight for his country, his freedom . . . and his life. Michael P. Spradlin's latest novel tenderly explores the harsh realities of the Bataan Death March and captivity on the Pacific front during World War II.
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 0545861519
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 239
Book Description
He lied about his age to enlist. Now he'll have to lie about everything else to survive! Survive the war. Outlast the enemy. Stay alive. That's what Henry Forrest has to do. When he lies about his age to join the Marines, Henry never imagines he'll face anything worse than his own father's cruelty. But his unit is shipped off to the Philippines, where the heat is unbearable, the conditions are brutal, and Henry's dreams of careless adventuring are completely dashed.Then the Japanese invade the islands, and US forces there surrender. As a prisoner of war, Henry faces one horror after another. Yet among his fellow captives, he finds kindness, respect, even brotherhood. A glimmer of light in the darkness. And he'll need to hold tight to the hope they offer if he wants to win the fight for his country, his freedom . . . and his life. Michael P. Spradlin's latest novel tenderly explores the harsh realities of the Bataan Death March and captivity on the Pacific front during World War II.
The Prisoner
Author: Kerry Tucker
Publisher: Random House Australia
ISBN: 014378739X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 278
Book Description
Kerry Tucker seemed to be a typical suburban mother of two, but she was harbouring a terrible secret: over the years she had stolen $2 million from her employers. When her crime was discovered she was sentenced to seven years at a maximum-security prison, alongside some of Victoria’s most notorious criminals. Being incarcerated with murderers and drug dealers was not nearly as daunting, however, as having to tell her two young daughters why she was leaving them. The shame was almost unbearable. She knew that she could give in to the shame or learn from it – and she owed it to her children to learn. Kerry quickly adapted to the prison regime and set about using her skills to successfully represent women in internal court, parole hearings and child welfare issues. She also introduced her own awareness programs and encouraged inmates to enrol in courses. Taking her own advice she began to study for a Master of Arts, and when she completed her degree the full university graduation ceremony was the first to be held inside an Australian prison. Today Kerry has gone on to attain a PhD and has been reunited with her daughters. She considers jail a gift because it has given her a purpose – to help educate disadvantaged women.
Publisher: Random House Australia
ISBN: 014378739X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 278
Book Description
Kerry Tucker seemed to be a typical suburban mother of two, but she was harbouring a terrible secret: over the years she had stolen $2 million from her employers. When her crime was discovered she was sentenced to seven years at a maximum-security prison, alongside some of Victoria’s most notorious criminals. Being incarcerated with murderers and drug dealers was not nearly as daunting, however, as having to tell her two young daughters why she was leaving them. The shame was almost unbearable. She knew that she could give in to the shame or learn from it – and she owed it to her children to learn. Kerry quickly adapted to the prison regime and set about using her skills to successfully represent women in internal court, parole hearings and child welfare issues. She also introduced her own awareness programs and encouraged inmates to enrol in courses. Taking her own advice she began to study for a Master of Arts, and when she completed her degree the full university graduation ceremony was the first to be held inside an Australian prison. Today Kerry has gone on to attain a PhD and has been reunited with her daughters. She considers jail a gift because it has given her a purpose – to help educate disadvantaged women.
The Prisoner
Author: Alex Berenson
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698407512
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 434
Book Description
To unmask a CIA mole, John Wells must resume his old undercover identity as an al Qaeda jihadi—and hope he can survive it—in this cutting-edge novel from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author. It is the most dangerous mission of John Wells’s career. Evidence is mounting that someone high up in the CIA is doing the unthinkable—passing messages to ISIS, alerting them to planned operations. Finding out the mole’s identity without alerting him, however, will be very hard, and to accomplish it, Wells will have to do something he thought he’d left behind forever. He will have to reassume his former identity as an al Qaeda jihadi, get captured, and go undercover to befriend an ISIS prisoner in a secret Bulgarian prison. Many years before, Wells was the only American agent ever to penetrate al Qaeda, but times have changed drastically. The terrorist organizations have multiplied: gotten bigger, crueler, more ambitious and powerful. Wells knows it may well be his death sentence. But there is no one else.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698407512
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 434
Book Description
To unmask a CIA mole, John Wells must resume his old undercover identity as an al Qaeda jihadi—and hope he can survive it—in this cutting-edge novel from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author. It is the most dangerous mission of John Wells’s career. Evidence is mounting that someone high up in the CIA is doing the unthinkable—passing messages to ISIS, alerting them to planned operations. Finding out the mole’s identity without alerting him, however, will be very hard, and to accomplish it, Wells will have to do something he thought he’d left behind forever. He will have to reassume his former identity as an al Qaeda jihadi, get captured, and go undercover to befriend an ISIS prisoner in a secret Bulgarian prison. Many years before, Wells was the only American agent ever to penetrate al Qaeda, but times have changed drastically. The terrorist organizations have multiplied: gotten bigger, crueler, more ambitious and powerful. Wells knows it may well be his death sentence. But there is no one else.
Prisoner
Author: Jason Rezaian
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062691597
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 321
Book Description
The Inspiration for the New Podcast Featuring Jason Rezaian. “544 Days” is a Spotify original podcast, produced by Gimlet, Crooked Media and A24. The dramatic memoir of the journalist who was held hostage in a high-security prison in Tehran for eighteen months and whose release—which almost didn’t happen—became a part of the Iran nuclear deal In July 2014, Washington Post Tehran bureau chief Jason Rezaian was arrested by Iranian police, accused of spying for America. The charges were absurd. Rezaian’s reporting was a mix of human interest stories and political analysis. He had even served as a guide for Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown. Initially, Rezaian thought the whole thing was a terrible misunderstanding, but soon realized that it was much more dire as it became an eighteen-month prison stint with impossibly high diplomatic stakes. While in prison, Rezaian had tireless advocates working on his behalf. His brother lobbied political heavyweights including John Kerry and Barack Obama and started a social media campaign—#FreeJason—while Jason’s wife navigated the red tape of the Iranian security apparatus, all while the courts used Rezaian as a bargaining chip in negotiations for the Iran nuclear deal. In Prisoner, Rezaian writes of his exhausting interrogations and farcical trial. He also reflects on his idyllic childhood in Northern California and his bond with his Iranian father, a rug merchant; how his teacher Christopher Hitchens inspired him to pursue journalism; and his life-changing decision to move to Tehran, where his career took off and he met his wife. Written with wit, humor, and grace, Prisoner brings to life a fascinating, maddening culture in all its complexity. “An important story. Harrowing, and suspenseful, yes—but it’s also a deep dive into a complex and egregiously misunderstood country with two very different faces. There is no better time to know more about Iran—and Jason Rezaian has seen both of those faces.” — Anthony Bourdain “Jason paid a deep price in defense of journalism and his story proves that not everyone who defends freedom carries a gun, some carry a pen.” —John F. Kerry, 68th Secretary of State
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062691597
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 321
Book Description
The Inspiration for the New Podcast Featuring Jason Rezaian. “544 Days” is a Spotify original podcast, produced by Gimlet, Crooked Media and A24. The dramatic memoir of the journalist who was held hostage in a high-security prison in Tehran for eighteen months and whose release—which almost didn’t happen—became a part of the Iran nuclear deal In July 2014, Washington Post Tehran bureau chief Jason Rezaian was arrested by Iranian police, accused of spying for America. The charges were absurd. Rezaian’s reporting was a mix of human interest stories and political analysis. He had even served as a guide for Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown. Initially, Rezaian thought the whole thing was a terrible misunderstanding, but soon realized that it was much more dire as it became an eighteen-month prison stint with impossibly high diplomatic stakes. While in prison, Rezaian had tireless advocates working on his behalf. His brother lobbied political heavyweights including John Kerry and Barack Obama and started a social media campaign—#FreeJason—while Jason’s wife navigated the red tape of the Iranian security apparatus, all while the courts used Rezaian as a bargaining chip in negotiations for the Iran nuclear deal. In Prisoner, Rezaian writes of his exhausting interrogations and farcical trial. He also reflects on his idyllic childhood in Northern California and his bond with his Iranian father, a rug merchant; how his teacher Christopher Hitchens inspired him to pursue journalism; and his life-changing decision to move to Tehran, where his career took off and he met his wife. Written with wit, humor, and grace, Prisoner brings to life a fascinating, maddening culture in all its complexity. “An important story. Harrowing, and suspenseful, yes—but it’s also a deep dive into a complex and egregiously misunderstood country with two very different faces. There is no better time to know more about Iran—and Jason Rezaian has seen both of those faces.” — Anthony Bourdain “Jason paid a deep price in defense of journalism and his story proves that not everyone who defends freedom carries a gun, some carry a pen.” —John F. Kerry, 68th Secretary of State
Hell Is a Very Small Place
Author: Jean Casella
Publisher: New Press, The
ISBN: 1620971380
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
“An unforgettable look at the peculiar horrors and humiliations involved in solitary confinement” from the prisoners who have survived it (New York Review of Books). On any given day, the United States holds more than eighty-thousand people in solitary confinement, a punishment that—beyond fifteen days—has been denounced as a form of cruel and degrading treatment by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. Now, in a book that will add a startling new dimension to the debates around human rights and prison reform, former and current prisoners describe the devastating effects of isolation on their minds and bodies, the solidarity expressed between individuals who live side by side for years without ever meeting one another face to face, the ever-present specters of madness and suicide, and the struggle to maintain hope and humanity. As Chelsea Manning wrote from her own solitary confinement cell, “The personal accounts by prisoners are some of the most disturbing that I have ever read.” These firsthand accounts are supplemented by the writing of noted experts, exploring the psychological, legal, ethical, and political dimensions of solitary confinement. “Do we really think it makes sense to lock so many people alone in tiny cells for twenty-three hours a day, for months, sometimes for years at a time? That is not going to make us safer. That’s not going to make us stronger.” —President Barack Obama “Elegant but harrowing.” —San Francisco Chronicle “A potent cry of anguish from men and women buried way down in the hole.” —Kirkus Reviews
Publisher: New Press, The
ISBN: 1620971380
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
“An unforgettable look at the peculiar horrors and humiliations involved in solitary confinement” from the prisoners who have survived it (New York Review of Books). On any given day, the United States holds more than eighty-thousand people in solitary confinement, a punishment that—beyond fifteen days—has been denounced as a form of cruel and degrading treatment by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. Now, in a book that will add a startling new dimension to the debates around human rights and prison reform, former and current prisoners describe the devastating effects of isolation on their minds and bodies, the solidarity expressed between individuals who live side by side for years without ever meeting one another face to face, the ever-present specters of madness and suicide, and the struggle to maintain hope and humanity. As Chelsea Manning wrote from her own solitary confinement cell, “The personal accounts by prisoners are some of the most disturbing that I have ever read.” These firsthand accounts are supplemented by the writing of noted experts, exploring the psychological, legal, ethical, and political dimensions of solitary confinement. “Do we really think it makes sense to lock so many people alone in tiny cells for twenty-three hours a day, for months, sometimes for years at a time? That is not going to make us safer. That’s not going to make us stronger.” —President Barack Obama “Elegant but harrowing.” —San Francisco Chronicle “A potent cry of anguish from men and women buried way down in the hole.” —Kirkus Reviews
American Prison
Author: Shane Bauer
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735223580
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
An enraging, necessary look at the private prison system, and a convincing clarion call for prison reform.” —NPR.org New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2018 * One of President Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2018 * Winner of the 2019 J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize * Winner of the Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism * Winner of the 2019 RFK Book and Journalism Award * A New York Times Notable Book A ground-breaking and brave inside reckoning with the nexus of prison and profit in America: in one Louisiana prison and over the course of our country's history. In 2014, Shane Bauer was hired for $9 an hour to work as an entry-level prison guard at a private prison in Winnfield, Louisiana. An award-winning investigative journalist, he used his real name; there was no meaningful background check. Four months later, his employment came to an abrupt end. But he had seen enough, and in short order he wrote an exposé about his experiences that won a National Magazine Award and became the most-read feature in the history of the magazine Mother Jones. Still, there was much more that he needed to say. In American Prison, Bauer weaves a much deeper reckoning with his experiences together with a thoroughly researched history of for-profit prisons in America from their origins in the decades before the Civil War. For, as he soon realized, we can't understand the cruelty of our current system and its place in the larger story of mass incarceration without understanding where it came from. Private prisons became entrenched in the South as part of a systemic effort to keep the African-American labor force in place in the aftermath of slavery, and the echoes of these shameful origins are with us still. The private prison system is deliberately unaccountable to public scrutiny. Private prisons are not incentivized to tend to the health of their inmates, or to feed them well, or to attract and retain a highly-trained prison staff. Though Bauer befriends some of his colleagues and sympathizes with their plight, the chronic dysfunction of their lives only adds to the prison's sense of chaos. To his horror, Bauer finds himself becoming crueler and more aggressive the longer he works in the prison, and he is far from alone. A blistering indictment of the private prison system, and the powerful forces that drive it, American Prison is a necessary human document about the true face of justice in America.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735223580
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
An enraging, necessary look at the private prison system, and a convincing clarion call for prison reform.” —NPR.org New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2018 * One of President Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2018 * Winner of the 2019 J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize * Winner of the Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism * Winner of the 2019 RFK Book and Journalism Award * A New York Times Notable Book A ground-breaking and brave inside reckoning with the nexus of prison and profit in America: in one Louisiana prison and over the course of our country's history. In 2014, Shane Bauer was hired for $9 an hour to work as an entry-level prison guard at a private prison in Winnfield, Louisiana. An award-winning investigative journalist, he used his real name; there was no meaningful background check. Four months later, his employment came to an abrupt end. But he had seen enough, and in short order he wrote an exposé about his experiences that won a National Magazine Award and became the most-read feature in the history of the magazine Mother Jones. Still, there was much more that he needed to say. In American Prison, Bauer weaves a much deeper reckoning with his experiences together with a thoroughly researched history of for-profit prisons in America from their origins in the decades before the Civil War. For, as he soon realized, we can't understand the cruelty of our current system and its place in the larger story of mass incarceration without understanding where it came from. Private prisons became entrenched in the South as part of a systemic effort to keep the African-American labor force in place in the aftermath of slavery, and the echoes of these shameful origins are with us still. The private prison system is deliberately unaccountable to public scrutiny. Private prisons are not incentivized to tend to the health of their inmates, or to feed them well, or to attract and retain a highly-trained prison staff. Though Bauer befriends some of his colleagues and sympathizes with their plight, the chronic dysfunction of their lives only adds to the prison's sense of chaos. To his horror, Bauer finds himself becoming crueler and more aggressive the longer he works in the prison, and he is far from alone. A blistering indictment of the private prison system, and the powerful forces that drive it, American Prison is a necessary human document about the true face of justice in America.