Book Club
Posted on Sun Sep 10, 2006 at 12:48:24 AM EST
Tags: (all tags)
by TChris
A review of Inside: Life Behind Bars in America by Michael Santos:
Mainly, though, [the book is] a diary of "a gladiator school," "a walled city of madness." Guards act savagely -- a natural outcome in a culture where "the only thing lower than an inmate is an 'inmate lover,' a 'hug-a-thug.' " They can also be infuriatingly petty. "Guards are the only people I see throwing cigarettes on the ground," one prisoner says. "They walk across lawns and then order inmates to rake up behind them." Meanwhile, prisoners stab and rape one another and make weapons out of everything from a heavy pipe to a tube sock filled with combination locks. Violence, or the threat of it, permeates Santos's life.
Not surprisingly, Santos sees a need for change:
Most inmates focus on survival, not rehabilitation. And the flaws in the system seem to create a steady stream of prisoners -- namely, those who are released and then end up back behind bars. Even worse, "neither those in corrections, nor those benefiting from the enormous capital disbursements -- like prison towns, suppliers, contractors, etc. -- want to see material changes. Why would they? Doing so would be akin to those in Las Vegas making a call for an end to gambling."
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