A review by notoriousesr
Correction: Parole, Prison, and the Possibility of Change by Ben Austen
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Acclaimed journalist Ben Austen turns his critical eye to the American prison system. In Correction, he tells the story of parole through the cases of two men imprisoned for murder, and what America really means by “if you do the crime, you do the time.”
This book feels like a paradigm shift. It’s the new The New Jim Crow, the new Evicted. This should be on the shelves of every justice-minded American and every prison abolitionist. Not only is this book meticulously researched and reported, it also never shies away from making an ideological case against mass incarceration, and particularly against the current arbitrary and cruel system of sentencing and parole. Despite the difficult and often convoluted topic, Austen never fails to engage the reader in both the sociocultural story of parole and the very personal, emotional stories of Michael and Johnny, two men in their 60s who have been locked up since they were teenagers. This shining achievement deserves 5 out of 5 votes to parole.
This book feels like a paradigm shift. It’s the new The New Jim Crow, the new Evicted. This should be on the shelves of every justice-minded American and every prison abolitionist. Not only is this book meticulously researched and reported, it also never shies away from making an ideological case against mass incarceration, and particularly against the current arbitrary and cruel system of sentencing and parole. Despite the difficult and often convoluted topic, Austen never fails to engage the reader in both the sociocultural story of parole and the very personal, emotional stories of Michael and Johnny, two men in their 60s who have been locked up since they were teenagers. This shining achievement deserves 5 out of 5 votes to parole.