Beyond the Walls : Why Prison Doesn’t Work and How We Can Do Better

Since 1980 the prison population in the United States has quadrupled, leading us to our present moment where America has the largest prison population “in the history of human civilization“

Maya Schenwar‘s book Locked Down, Locked Out: Why Prison Doesn’t Work and How We Can Do Better looks at how prison tears families and communities apart, creating a rippling effect that touches every corner of our society. Through the stories of prisoners and their families, as well as her own family’s experience of her sister’s incarceration, Schenwar shows how the institution that locks up 2.3 million Americans—and decimates poor communities of color—is shredding the ties that, if nurtured, could foster real collective safety.

Maya will read from her book, talk about how her experience of investigating prisons has informed the conclusions she draws in the Locked Down, Locked Out, and take questions.   

A bit more about Locked Down Locked Out:

The destruction does not end upon exiting the prison walls: the 95 percent of prisoners who are released emerge with even fewer economic opportunities and fewer human connections on the outside than before. Locked Down, Locked Out shows how incarceration takes away the very things that might enable people to build better lives.

Looking toward a future beyond imprisonment, Schenwar profiles community-based initiatives that foster antiracist, anticlassist, prohumanity approaches to justice. These programs successfully deal with problems—both individual harm and larger social wrongs—through connection rather than isolation, moving toward a safer, freer future for all of us.