Customer Reviews

The Celling of America: An Inside Look at the US Prison Industry

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This book presents a truly "inside" looks at prisons in the US. Short articles, mostly written by prisoners, tell the story of how prisons are run, managed, and what's at stake. For anyone interested in crime, punishment, human rights, or criticisms of China for using "prison labor" to manufacture goods, this volume provides plenty of well-articulated food for thought.

Consisting of an anthology of articles from the monthly journal Prison Legal News (edited by two Washington state prisoners), The Celling of America provides a timely overview of the legal, political, economic and social problems plaguing the U.S. criminal justice system. Takes a look at prison issues from an angle rarely if ever presented in the main-stream media, from prison activists to jail-house lawyers to death-row inmates.

Paul Wright has been reporting on the way we treat our poverty-stricken and incarcerated criminal outcasts(the majority of whom are mentally ill)for over twenty years and every one of his books is essential reading for anyone who cares about human rights here in america, where we now have more people incarcerated than Russia or China, something of which we should be deeply ashamed. I've been to prison, I was there alongside Paul Wright and I wish more people would pay attention to the issues he high-lights, because they all point to a deep sickness in the social fabric of this country.

History will not look kindly on today's prisons. This book outlines how companies and politicians exploit America's most vulnerable citizens, and provides information on how to stop it. The most important non-fiction title in recent memory.

A look at the prison industry from the inside is a nice idea, and the articles here are chock full of information one hardly hears in the mainstream media. The responses to criticisms of prison TVs and weightrooms are interesting and thought-provoking. On the other hand, many of the authors seem to believe prisoners deserve as much freedom as those outside, that they should be treated the same. While the rights of prisoners are obviously being abused, the notion that criminals shouldn't be punished for their crimes is a strange one. Also, many of the writers have an obvious socialist agenda that ruins the quality, message and objectiveness of some pieces. Overall, worth reading, and a good look at the prison industry (and other industries that use prison labor), but far from a complete or unbiased view.