A few years ago, I wrote an article about a corrections officer who was doing innovative things with the local jail inmates under her care. She had this crazy idea that if you care about the inmates, listen to their problems, give them... Read More

A few years ago, I took a rather unusual writing assignment. I won’t say who it was from because I want to protect his identity. But he was in trouble. Big trouble, and was afraid of going to state prison. I had interviewed, and... Read More

We recently reviewed a book called Liberating Minds: The Case for College in Prison, published by The New Press. What first struck me about the book was the subtitle, The Case for College in Prison, as if a case needs to be made. To me,... Read More

For prisoners, whether in your local jail or in state or federal prison, a book may be the only thing that keeps them sane. The ability to learn a new language, about history, or just to travel to other worlds, can help engage a mind and... Read More

Alison Flowers first caught my attention a year ago, when I reviewed her book, Exoneree Diaries: The Fight for Innocence, Independence, and Identity, published by Haymarket Books. What struck me about the book was its matter-of-fact... Read More

It’s getting more difficult to use collective amnesia as an excuse to try the same thing over and over again. Current tensions between African Americans and the police did not spring from nowhere a couple years ago in Ferguson,... Read More

There is a misconception that to apologize is to show weakness. Yet, the true test of a just society is not only how it treats those on the margins, but also how it atones for its mistakes. On both these counts, the United States has,... Read More

By now, many Americans are aware that our brutal system of mass incarceration is out of control and ineffective. But acknowledging the problem is only the first step. Many reasonable people can recognize that the current prison system is... Read More