SHAME

America has failed to realize that depriving people of their freedom for a criminal act is the punishment–it is vengeance to require that they suffer every day while they are incarcerated.

In Shame: America's Failed Prison System, the author lays out the case for reform through essays from prisoners and reports from judges, legislators, defense attorneys, and even a warden and corrections officer about how our vengeance mindset plays out in the daily lives of prisoners. They are warehoused in a bleak, dangerous, cold, and unforgiving environment that many refer to as gladiator school, and they come out more damaged than when they went in. Many will never get out and can only look forward to dying alone because their families will not be allowed to be present during their last hours.

What you will learn from this book is that it is simplistic as a society to expect people to "get it together" once we send them into an abusive system. Many people in prison are broken from addictions, mental health issues, and abusive childhoods. And there are not enough programs available to help them figure out the underlying causes of their behavior.

One of the gang members featured in this book says, "This isn't punishment, this is the way we lived on the streets." The same hustles, the same violence, the same "predator or prey" mentality.

The art for the book was contributed by four prisoners. They show that, even in the ugliness of an institution, there is untapped potential.

This book closes with hope because political winds are blowing for change and there are now ways that people can help drive reform. Americans are waking up to the fact that mass incarceration is not sustainable and Shame is a call for change.

-- RaeLynn Ricarte