Here is an excellent editorial from The Seattle Times on 8/15/2010 calling for prison reform:
Neal Peirce / Syndicated columnist
For hard-to-defend reasons, and at staggering fiscal cost, the United States incarcerates people at a rate five times Great Britain’s, nine times Germany’s, 12 times Japan’s, writes columnist Neal Peirce. It’s time to reform this nation’s prison system.
In his newest book, Inside: Life Behind Bars in America, Michael Santos shows readers what it's like to live in America's jails and prisons. Using the voice of the penitentiary, he graphically describes a system infested with gangs, drugs, beatings, shanks, and extortion. From meth-crazed prisoners raping the weak, to female guards who prostitute themselves with the help of gang leaders, and murders in protective custody, Santos brings readers as close as they'll ever want to come to confinement.
It is not the sugarcoated version of "corrections" and "rehabilitation" that administrators want taxpayers to swallow. This book describes a $60 billion industry designed with policies and infrastructure that perpetuate failure.
Santos succeeds in introducing readers to the characters, values, and growing subculture festering inside America's prison system. With the soaring costs of keeping more than two million prisoners inside, this hard-hitting book is timely for all nonfiction readers.
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