An unsentimental portrait of losers in the war against drugs.
An observant journalist whose experiences at Rikers Island have turned her into an advocate for criminal-justice reform shows us the grim lives of prisoners before, during, and after their incarceration.
Wynn, who teaches a writing class to male inmates at Rikers as part of a rehabilitation program known as Fresh Start, is editor of the Rikers Review, an illustrated magazine featuring short stories, profiles, true confessions, poetry, and humor written and illustrated by inmates. To better understand the men she found herself teaching, Wynn earned a master’s degree from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and here she knowingly explores the social and psychological factors underlying criminal behavior. Most of the men in Rikers whom she profiles are either drug addicts or drug dealers, come from dysfunctional families in the city’s “dead zones,” are poorly educated, and have been in jail or prison before. Selections from the writings of some of her student inmates are included here, but most of the revelations about their lives come from Wynn’s reports of her conversations with individual men whom she came to know well, and from her often disconcerting post-Rikers encounters with them. A few made successful adjustments to life outside, but most did not escape the cycle of drugs, crime, and incarceration. Wynn looks for explanations of this in their early lives, in the inequalities of our society, and in the policies and practices of the criminal justice system itself. She especially criticizes Rikers’ handling of drug addiction in its controversial Key Extended Entry Program (KEEP), which since 1987 has replaced detoxification of drug-addicted inmates with a maintenance program that keeps them on dependent on methadone for their entire stay. Treatment, she argues, would be far less costly than imprisonment, which at Rikers comes to a stunning $68,000 per inmate annually.
An unsentimental portrait of losers in the war against drugs.Pub Date: July 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-312-26179-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2001
A heartfelt if somewhat unsurprising view of old age by the former president. Carter (Living Faith, 1996, etc.) succinctly evaluates the evolution and current status of federal policies concerning the elderly (including a balanced appraisal of the difficulties facing the Social Security system). He also meditates, while drawing heavily on autobiographical anecdotes, on the possibilities for exploration and intellectual and spiritual growth in old age. There are few lightning bolts to dazzle in his prescriptions (cultivate family ties; pursue the restorative pleasures of hobbies and socially minded activities). Yet the warmth and frankness of Carter’s remarks prove disarming. Given its brevity, the work is more of a call to senior citizens to reconsider how best to live life than it is a guide to any of the details involved.
Pub Date: Oct. 26, 1998
ISBN: 0-345-42592-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1998
A sharply different deconstruction of the prevailing orthodoxy, worthy of attention.
Leverett (International Affairs/Pennsylvania State Univ.; Inheriting Syria: Bashir's Trial by Fire, 2005) and his wife, Hillary, argue that, unless it changes, “the United States’ Iran policy is locked in a trajectory…that will ultimately lead to war.”
The authors take on what they identify as “a powerful mythology” that continues to influence U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic—primarily, the proposition that because it is unpopular, the regime “is in imminent danger of being overthrown.” They offer an alternative to the prevailing view that Khomeini and his supporters hijacked the liberal revolution that began in 1978 and “betrayed the aspirations of those who actually carried out the campaign that deposed the shah.” The Leveretts take issue with American policymakers who propose that the U.S. should advocate the overthrow of the present regime in favor of liberal democracy. They believe in the possibility of negotiating with the present regime. The authors dispute the view that the mullahs have done nothing for the population and lack support, showing how literacy, health and medical care have been upgraded and the economy developed. They highlight present concerns about the Iranian nuclear program, which they claim are exaggerated. They identify the continuing influence of the neoconservatives, who brought about the second Iraq war, and “liberal internationalists,” who are ready to deploy military force in support of human rights. They believe that the time has come for an initiative like Nixon's visit to Beijing to begin a change in course.
A sharply different deconstruction of the prevailing orthodoxy, worthy of attention.Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9419-0
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Metropolitan/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Oct. 6, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2012
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