Title: Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption Date Read: February 14, 2009 Authors: Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton, with Erin Torneo Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (2009) Nonfiction/298 pages Why I read Picking Cotton: A publicist for Picking Cotton requested through an e-mail that I write a review for this book. Carole responded to […]
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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