What's Prison For?: Punishment and Rehabilitation in the Age of Mass Incarceration (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781735913742)

What happens inside our prisons?

What's Prison For? examines the "incarceration" part of "mass incarceration." What happens inside prisons and jails, where nearly two million Americans are held? Bill Keller, one of America's most accomplished journalists, has spent years immersed in the subject. He argues that the most important role of prisons is preparing incarcerated people to be good neighbors and good citizens when they return to society, as the overwhelming majority will.

Keller takes us inside the walls of our prisons, where we meet men and women who have found purpose while in state custody; American corrections officials who have set out to learn from Europe's state-of-the-art prison campuses; a rehab unit within a Pennsylvania prison, dubbed Little Scandinavia, where lifers serve as mentors; a college behind bars in San Quentin; a women's prison that helps imprisoned mothers bond with their children; and Keller's own classroom at Sing Sing.

Surprising in its optimism, What's Prison For? is an indispensable guide on how to improve our prison system, and a powerful argument that the status quo is a shameful waste of human potential.

Author: Bill Keller
ISBN-10: 173591374X
ISBN-13: 9781735913742
Publisher: Columbia Global Reports
Language: English
Published: 10/04/2022
Pages: 160
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.40lbs
Size: 7.40h x 5.00w x 0.60d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 08/15/2022
Kirkus Reviews 09/01/2022
Choice 07/01/2023