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Reviews
What's Prison For?: Punishment and Rehabilitation in the Age of Mass Incarceration by Bill Keller
stevia333k's review
it was around the point i was thinking about how the job conditions are better in post-holocaust germany than in current usa that i realized this book was still carceral as hell instead of abolitionist.
josephinebean's review
4.0
rated: 4 stars
as an australian with little to no understanding of the cruelty of the american prison system, this was an incredibly eye-opening read. there is some really deep expertise in this book, and one of its strengths was that the experts that it used to talk about prison reform were mostly people who had been incarcerated themselves and were now working in the area professionally. there was no shying away from the idea that the prison system needs reform, and the wide variety of viewpoints of just how far that reform needed to go, stretching all the way to abolition, was really interesting to read and learn about.
the one thing i think that was missing from this book was exploration, or even just reasons, of what the negatives of the nordic prison systems are. it was great to see examples of how prison reform internationally had worked and how passionate activists were using that, but i struggle to believe that there is a perfect system for incarceration, and am now very curious about what these flaws could be.
overall, i think this was a great entry read into understanding america's incarceration system, and learning about this from the viewpoint of how can we reform it was a really strong way to introduce me to what the underlying problems of the prison system in america are.
I got an advanced copy of this book from Columbia Global Reports through NetGalley.
as an australian with little to no understanding of the cruelty of the american prison system, this was an incredibly eye-opening read. there is some really deep expertise in this book, and one of its strengths was that the experts that it used to talk about prison reform were mostly people who had been incarcerated themselves and were now working in the area professionally. there was no shying away from the idea that the prison system needs reform, and the wide variety of viewpoints of just how far that reform needed to go, stretching all the way to abolition, was really interesting to read and learn about.
the one thing i think that was missing from this book was exploration, or even just reasons, of what the negatives of the nordic prison systems are. it was great to see examples of how prison reform internationally had worked and how passionate activists were using that, but i struggle to believe that there is a perfect system for incarceration, and am now very curious about what these flaws could be.
overall, i think this was a great entry read into understanding america's incarceration system, and learning about this from the viewpoint of how can we reform it was a really strong way to introduce me to what the underlying problems of the prison system in america are.
I got an advanced copy of this book from Columbia Global Reports through NetGalley.
orasmis's review
4.0
*** Free copy given in exchange for an honest review ***
This book is an exploration of the American prison system. It goes into a brief history of jails/prisons and how they work and function. It talks about the reasons that people are put into jail in the first place and whether or not the current system is effective at achieving any of those. It shows some positive aspects of several Europe prison systems and how those positive could be brought to the States to make out system better. It takes about how education and rehab services could help ease peoples entrance to mainstream life after they leave jail/prison. It looks at the differences between and men and womens prison/jail. It briefly dips into how Covid affected the penitentiary system. And it also talks about how the job affects the officers that work there.
I absolutely loved this book and blew through it in a day. It’s very well written and feels well researched. There are points that you are going to get angry/frustrated because it does such a good job showing how frustrating the American penitentiary system can be. It’s interesting to dip into the European systems but the book sees them with rose colored glasses. It only talks about the positives and no negatives. It does a good job of humanizing the people that it talks about. Overall I highly recommend this book for nonfiction readers and people that like reading about the penitentiary system.
This book is an exploration of the American prison system. It goes into a brief history of jails/prisons and how they work and function. It talks about the reasons that people are put into jail in the first place and whether or not the current system is effective at achieving any of those. It shows some positive aspects of several Europe prison systems and how those positive could be brought to the States to make out system better. It takes about how education and rehab services could help ease peoples entrance to mainstream life after they leave jail/prison. It looks at the differences between and men and womens prison/jail. It briefly dips into how Covid affected the penitentiary system. And it also talks about how the job affects the officers that work there.
I absolutely loved this book and blew through it in a day. It’s very well written and feels well researched. There are points that you are going to get angry/frustrated because it does such a good job showing how frustrating the American penitentiary system can be. It’s interesting to dip into the European systems but the book sees them with rose colored glasses. It only talks about the positives and no negatives. It does a good job of humanizing the people that it talks about. Overall I highly recommend this book for nonfiction readers and people that like reading about the penitentiary system.
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