With Liberty for Some is a history of the prison system and imprisonment in America. Reading through the book I have learned a great deal about the continuity of human nature when dealing with society’s cast-offs. This land was a melting pot of people who came in shackles, on slave ships, and exiled to a rough new world with unforeseeable dangers. Our country was built on the backs of slavery, child labor, and human rights abuses. That was nearly 400 years ago. Today, we are not the transit stop for prisoners of Europe or slaves, unless you count cases of human trafficking. However, we still use prisoners to test vaccines, work for slave wages and leave them to rot in a cell.
One quote from a prisoner last week sums up my feelings perfectly: “we are all still barbarians, barbarians with ipods.”
When systems of government fail, and stock markets come crashing down all we have are each other. And that notion scares me to death after looking at pictures of genocide and war but it also creates a certain hope because I know that even incarcerated men can show compassion.
It seems like _With Liberty for Some_ gave you a good glimpse of the economic basis for prison. Can you say more here about the book? I'm not sure I get a sense of what you are taking away from it?
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