An Expensive Way to Make Bad People Worse: An Essay on Prison Reform from an Insider's Perspective (Flashpoint) (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Explodes several of the most pervasive myths that have fueled the explosive growth of the U.S. prison system. -- Alan Elsner, Author, Gates of Injustice: The Crisis in America’s Prisons

The most compelling statement I’ve yet seen about the unrecognized human disaster that is the American criminal justice system. -- Charles Campbell, Director, Alaska Department of Corrections, Retired

This tautly argued work by a fascinating man debunks many of the things we think we 'know' about American incarceration. -- Scott McConnell, Executive Editor, The American Conservative

Product Description

The United States has more people locked away in prison per capita than any other country. Prison building is a multi-billion-dollar industry, and in some states more money is spent on prisons and prisoners than on education. Nearly one quarter of all prison inmates worldwide are housed in U.S. jails or penitentiaries, even though the United States has only five percent of the world’s population. Yet, in spite of the vast amount of resources spent on locking people up and the number of people in prison, the United States leads the developed world in the number of homicides and violent assaults.

For the last eighteen years, Jens Soering has experienced the inside of many different prison environments, from a youth remand center in London to America’s notorious Supermax prisons, to medium-security institutions. What he has seen and experienced has convinced him that not only do prisons not rehabilitate prisoners who may be useful for society once their sentence has ended, but prisons turn petty criminals into hardened convicts—all at enormous expense to society. Meanwhile, other nations control their crime rates at a fraction of the cost of the United States correctional system.

Soering does not argue that prisons should not exist or dispute that there are people who need to be locked away. His book is not an indictment of the legal system that lands many people in prison. Instead, An Expensive Way to Make Bad People Worse offers a mainly monetary analysis of why it is absurd fiscal policy to lock people up so often and for so long.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 113 pages
• Publisher: Lantern Books (September 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590560760
• ISBN-13: 978-1590560761
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #471,996 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What Americans Should Know About Our Prisons, November 22, 2004

By	Jean B. Franklin (North Carolina) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This slim volume is packed full of information that most Americans are unaware of concerning criminal justice issues. The author focuses on what has happened in the last 30 years in America. Most shocking is the fact that we are spending 7 times more on prisons than in Jimmy Carter's presidency, yet the crime rate has remained virtually flat. Also, we are spending many times more than other industrialized nations, yet our crime rate is about the same as theirs. Obviously, we are not getting what we are paying for. Prisons have now become a big business that states lobby to have in their area, so there will be economic interests to fight true reforms and cut-backs. This book would be appropriate for almost anyone interested in knowing more about prisons. Short and concise, filled with charts and graphs, it would be useful in church classes on social issues, adult education classes, high school and college classes that deal with prison issues, and as a resource on anyone's bookshelf. Pastors, lawyers, and state legislators should have copies! I learned a lot that I didn't know when I read it, and decided to feature it in my bookstore.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Synopsis of the Current State of Prison Wrongness, May 15, 2007

By	Radio_Dad (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

I am very interested in prison reform, since what we are doing is barely treading water, and definitely *not* making the situation (crime, rehabilitation, costs) any better at all.

The author, a convicted felon himself, is very clear-headed in his writing style, and he presents the facts of the case against the current state of the prisons in this country as dispassionately as possible.

I very much valued his honesty, his clarity of writing, and the many facts, figures and comprehensive backup that he provided.

All in a very easy to read book!
Please don't miss this one -- it is well worth the cost!
I am planning to purchase another copy, for our local public library.

4.0 out of 5 stars An insider's perspective indeed, October 12, 2009

By	A. Cox (SC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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Great insight! Very opinion based however, although enlightening. I would recommend this book to further someone's knowledge but not recommend it to be a guideline for which their ideas and beliefs should be based.