Andrew Kesterson

"Love God. Live Righteously. Die Well."
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# American Prison

2022-05-04 Books 484 words

Rating: 8/10
Amazon Link: click here
TL;DR The realities of life in prison, as told from a reporter who went undercover as a prison guard, what he learned from the experience, how it changed him, the kinds of people he met, the realization that the guards are in prison just as much as the inmates, and the great lengths to which the prison system went to try and silence his report.

This was a fascinating read. I knew the for-profit prison industry was crooked but I had no idea how far back the history of the industry went, which commercial and political figures were instrumental in it’s founding, and how it connected to other important historical events such as the abolition of chattel slavery, the great depression and sharecropping, chain gangs, and a whole host of other things. The author goes undercover in a private prison in Louisiana for several months and records the events, and interweaves history throughout. I wish the history had included more references to the history of the industry in the north and the west; the author unintentionally paints the picture that this is only a southern problem, which isn’t accurate. But I think he does his best to provide an honest unbiased account of the situation.

Make no mistake: slavery - that is, profiting off of the captivity and labor of humans against their will - is alive and well across the world and in the United States. It takes many forms, from sex trafficking, indebted servitude, to wage slavery, to incarceration for profit. It is one part of a complex web of commercial and political alliances, and a pipeline that locks neighborhoods, families, schools, prisons, and cultures into cycles that are very difficult to break. In many cases, good intentions got us here; for example penitentiaries were first created to avoid branding, whipping or hanging for various offenses, instead hoping to rehabilitate inmates by serving their penance. But good intentions are not immune to corruption by greed and power, and here we are.

It is not a short book, and it is not for the squeamish - it contains graphic depictions of many kinds of violence and sexual assault. (Though, to be honest, it is much more tame than other prison accounts.) But if you have time and want to better understand the mess we are in, I think it is a useful book and I do recommend it.

It is also a good inspiration for prayer. Pray for those who are incarcerated; for those who stand guard over them; for those in charge who perpetuate this system; and for those of us who stand by and watch it’s effects. Pray for all of it. Because it is only God’s love that can set our hearts right, help us to properly balance justice and mercy, and help us find the way out of this mess

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