Incarceration Nations: A Journey to Justice in Prisons Around the World

by Baz Dreisinger

In this crucial study, named one of the Washington Post's Notable Nonfiction Books of 2016 and now in paperback, Baz Dreisinger goes behind bars in nine countries to investigate the current conditions in prisons worldwide.Beginning in Africa and ending in Europe, Incarceration Nations is a first-person odyssey through the prison systems of the world. Professor, journalist, and founder of the Prison-to-College-Pipeline program, Dreisinger looks into the human stories of incarcerated men and women and those who imprison them, creating a jarring, poignant view of a world to which most are denied access, and a rethinking of one of America's most far-reaching global the modern prison complex.From serving as a restorative justice facilitator in a notorious South African prison and working with genocide survivors in Rwanda, to launching a creative writing class in an overcrowded Ugandan prison and coordinating a drama workshop for women prisoners in Thailand, Dreisinger examines the world behind bars with equal parts empathy and intellect. She journeys to Jamaica to visit a prison music program, to Singapore to learn about approaches to prisoner reentry, to Australia to grapple with the bottom line of private prisons, to a federal supermax in Brazil to confront the horrors of solitary confinement, and finally to the so-called model prisons of Norway. Incarceration Nations concludes with climactic lessons about the past, present, and future of justice.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Social Justice, Sociology, History, Crime, Law

337 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 9, 2016

Reviews

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book’s premise caught my attention: an American professor of criminal justice travels the world to study and compare various prison systems. Unfortunately, despite a promising beginning, it turns out to be less an in-depth learning experience than the author’s touring a bunch of prisons and using them as a soapbox to argue for the abolition of incarceration.

Dreisinger, who teaches college classes in a New York prison, visited prisons in Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Jamaica, Thailand, Brazil, Australia, Singapore and Norway. This book catalogues her trips, interspersing the narrative with statistics and research. And while there’s a lot to criticize here, I can’t say I didn’t learn from it. It turns out that the American prison model is being emulated around the world, from mass incarceration (particularly for drug offenses) to supermaxes and solitary confinement. And the author’s observations on the connection between incarceration, social control and economics are particularly interesting. Many of the prisons she visits began as colonial institutions, while in the U.S., mass incarceration began shortly after African-Americans gained civil rights. Prisons have provided cheap or free labor around the world: in Singapore, for instance, the prisoner and ex-offender manual labor market reduces the need for “undesirable” immigrant labor in the jobs no one else wants.

That said, I wish the author’s information had been better sourced. She includes a bibliography for each chapter, but does not document in endnotes the source of specific facts; I wanted to know where startling statistics, such as the purported 25% of South African men who admit to having committed rape, came from.

Dreisinger’s trips also turned out to be more superficial than I’d hoped. She spends limited time in the actual prisons, so there’s no in-depth knowledge of the inmates’ lives. Her time inside ranges from a week of workshop participation in South Africa and Uganda, to literally just touring prisons in four other countries. The chapters are padded out by accounts of her accommodations, food and entertainment along the way. On several trips, she visits model prisons that bear little resemblance to the typical ones; in Thailand, she even realizes later that her entire visit was staged, but rationalizes that it was still worthwhile for bringing publicity to the topic. Some of the topics she chooses to focus on also seem less important than others: her trips to Uganda, Jamaica and Thailand focus on arts programs in prison, and while she backs up the value of such programs with statistics, the topic seems out-of-place in a book otherwise grappling with big ideas about justice and incarceration.

But then, “grappling” is perhaps not the right word here. The author begins her journey with definite views, and only once does she rethink them: in Australia, upon visiting well-run private prisons, she concludes that privatization isn’t necessarily the anathema she’d thought it to be – it all depends on accountability. (Australian private prisons seem to be more accountable than government-run ones, with their profits tied to reducing recidivism. This is not the case in the U.S., where the private prison industry lobbies heavily for more incarceration because its profits depend on number of beds filled.)

Most of the time, though, Dreisinger’s views don’t admit challenge, and her visits feel less like a learning experience than like a platform to share her existing opinions. In Brazil, when several men are trying to tell her their stories, her interpreter gives up; this matters little to the author, though, because “I know what they’re saying. Because I’ve heard it in America, in Jamaica, and especially back in Pollsmoor [South Africa].” She’s only halfway through her journey at this point; if you already know it all, why are you there? And in Norway, when she visits a prison that sounds more like a luxury campus and meets a young man who laughs at the conditions (“‘This place is great,’ he’d said with a haughty chuckle. ‘The first day I got here I laughed out loud. This is prison? Ha.’”), she simply refuses to believe it. “I suspect that in fact [he] is, somewhere inside, crying . . . or that he’d bought into the hype.” But if an actual inmate believes what she calls “the whole ‘Halden-is-a-five-star-hotel’ routine,” that doesn’t sound like empty hype, but rather an accurate description.

And with the author building the narrative around her opinions, it wasn’t quite the learning experience of international justice systems that I’d hoped for. To me, the most valuable chapter was the first one, on Rwanda’s response to genocide: in dealing with an enormous number of perpetrators, Rwanda has focused on community healing, addressing the problem not just through incarceration, but through confession programs, community service such as having offenders build infrastructure, and reconciliation between communities. While the author seems to view Rwanda through rose-tinted glasses (ignoring the role incarceration plays in the healing process), it is a fascinating lesson in restorative justice and I wish the book contained more like that.

But Dreisinger’s primary argument is for eliminating prisons: an argument not based in her journey at all, as no countries discussed have done so. There are several reasons typically given for incarceration – punishment, deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation – and the only one Dreisinger approves is rehabilitation. She dismisses punishment as “profoundly questionable with regard to any sort of wrongdoing,” even violent crimes. She dismisses deterrence by pointing out that those in prison weren’t deterred by its existence when committing their crimes, overlooking the fact that the vast majority of people are not in prison and most probably have been tempted to break the law at some point in their lives. Nor does she believe in incapacitating criminals by removing them from society, arguing that “we’ll never have a risk-free society” but that we’re all in this together – so we all need to tolerate crime in the interest of not subjecting our fellow citizens to prison. With her primary interest being minimizing the effects of crime on the lives of the offenders, she recommends replacing prisons with “interventions”: “a transitory space that promotes healing.”

So the author’s opinions are so far from mine and from society’s in general that I didn’t ultimately find her views or suggestions very helpful. I think that the American criminal justice systems are broken: the fact that someone can be sentenced to just a few months for rape in California, while leaving a victim traumatized for life, but to 20+ years for drug possession while hurting no one, says it all. But I do believe violent crime needs to be punished and that some people need to be removed from society long-term, even permanently. So to me, a book that – especially after the early chapters – focuses exclusively on the needs and interests of the prisoners while ignoring those of the rest of society is not a particularly useful contribution to the debate on criminal justice reform.

[Jessica (Odd and Bookish) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for my Social Justice class and I had the honor of meeting the author (and having her sign my book).

This book was insanely good. Our class had just read The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness prior to this and this book out shined it in comparison. The New Jim Crow left me dissatisfied at the end, offering me no real, clear, solution to the problem. This book, however, did and gave me hope for the future. Additionally, her writing style is incredible. It's so engaging and she really takes you on a journey. She has a way of making some big points in really subtle ways.

As for meeting her, she is just as wonderful in person and she really is doing so much for prison reform and mass incarceration. She is working on so many new projects. Her optimism is inspiring.

[Lizz · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book doesn't belong in the general nonfiction section. It belongs in memoirs.

I get really, really annoyed by books that purport themselves to be a nonfiction discussion of a controversial topic, and are actually just an excuse for the author to praise themselves and discuss their own (largely irrelevant) lives. Dreisinger's book is a prime example of this. Why do books that focus on the African continent seem to be especially guilty of this? A recent comparison would be We Are Not Such Things: The Murder of a Young American, a South African Township, and the Search for Truth and Reconciliation, which I found similarly problematic.

I was really hoping for an interesting read about the history of prison systems globally, then a discussion of various statistics regarding recidivism, quality of life, and other measures of success interspersed with anecdotes from specific prisoners, and finally the opinions from the author regarding what makes a successful incarceration system. What I got was a Dreisinger's travel log, as well as entirely too much personal ego stroking. She goes on guided (admittedly glossified) tours of various prison systems, with irrelevant personal anecdotes that she somehow tries to use as comparison to the lives of inmates. (No, just, no). Personal information regarding inmates is almost nonexistent, other than a roll call of her students, yet we get the details of her own relationships and personal life. She spends such limited time in each location that she has no business forming an opinion regarding the functionality of their systems.

This book was long, boring, and irritating.

[Wally Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

As one who has spent more than 20 years as a volunteer teacher in prison, I wanted to read Baz Dreisinger's Incarceration Nations: A Journey to Justice in Prisons Around the World. Dr. Dreisinger is an Associate Professor in the English Department of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, and the founder and Academic Director of the Prison-to-College Pipeline program, which helps incarcerated men and women obtain college degrees. Before talking about the book, however, let me lay a little pipe.

We Americans lock people away in prison for four reasons: (1) as punishment for a criminal act; (2) to remove dangerous people from society; (3) to deter others from doing the same thing; (4) as an opportunity to change—to correct—criminal/anti-social behavior. Spelling these out, of course, raises all kinds of questions. How much punishment is appropriate? Is losing one's freedom enough punishment? Does prison—even long mandatory minimum sentences—deter crime? (One student told me that the certainty of being caught deters crime, not a long sentence.) Is it even possible to correct a person's behavior? We call them correctional institutions, but does anyone think they correct anything?

With a background as a "white English professor specializing in African-American cultural studies, a Caribbean carnival lover who is also a prison educator and criminal justice activist, a freelance producer for National Public Radio, [and] an agnostic New York Jew," Dreisinger took two years to visit prisons in Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Jamaica, Thailand, Brazil, Australia, Singapore, and Norway, comparing and contrasting their prisons and answers to the questions above to America's answers. She visited prisons and met with prisoners, staff and officials, criminal justice advocates, and more.

The result is a number of fascinating snapshots of very different institutions, culture-bound in some ways, American-influenced in others. For example, "Throughout the colonial world . . . prisons served the aims of whites, extorting money by the way of bribes to stay out of prison and obtaining free labor from prisoners for cotton production . . . colonial powers adroitly manufactured reasons to put bodies behind bars." (So that could be reason (5) for locking people away: Obtain cheap labor.)

Perhaps examples of American-influence are drug laws. "Across the globe, draconian drug policy is packing prisons. Drug users and traffickers represent more than half of those in federal prison in the United States and Mexico, a quarter of all those in prison in Spain, and one-fifth entering prison in Japan; in Malaysia they constitute more than half of the nine hundred incarcerated people awaiting execution. And these are mainly small-time users, more than 83 percent of them, worldwide, convicted of possession."

But while much of the news is grim (don't get arrested for drug possession in Singapore), it's not all dire. It turns out that, given the Australian experience, private prisons may not be all bad all the time. Thanks to Thailand's princess, the country's prisons for women are becoming less oppressive. Norway is showing the world its commitment to corrections over punishment. Whether the positive lessons can—or should—be replicated elsewhere remains in my mind an open question.

I thoroughly enjoyed Incarceration Nations for the insights Dreisinger gives into foreign prisons. I would have enjoyed it more with end notes and an index. It does have an extensive bibliography, but, buff that I am, I would like to be able to look up the original studies she cites. Nevertheless, I recommend the book to anyone interested in incarceration here and elsewhere in the world.

[Literary Chic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incarceration Nations is my book club book for February. Over the past few weeks, I've become fascinated by the prison system in America. My first book on the topic was Michelle Alexander's, The New Jim Crow which gave staggering statistics specifically about the African American population imprisoned in America. Baz Dreisinger's work is more focused on the problem from a macro level. She visited several prisons throughout the world and documented what she found. Basically, no one (except possibly Norway) has learned how to deal with the problem of the punishment/discipline of their offending citizens.

Unfortunately, I did not walk away with a clear answer to the problem. I did however, walk away with a changed heart toward "prisoners" and my treatment of them. We live in such a punitive society. It's easy to point at those who have made poor choices and blame them for their situation and never consider myself in their position. What if I was reduced to the worst error I ever made? What if I was required to wear my proverbial scarlet letter for the rest of my life? What if there were no reparations I could make, no redemption I could find to not be reduced to my error for the rest of my life?

I realize we cannot turn a blind eye to crime, but clearly how we're dealing with "criminals" (non-violent drug offenders in particular) isn't working. I don't know what the answer is, but Ms. Dreisinger's book has opened my eyes to be aware of the problem and supportive of the leaders who find solutions.

[SerialReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Here there is a world apart, unlike everything else, with laws of its own, its own dress, its own manners and customs, and here is the house of the living dead - life as nowhere else and a people apart."
F.M. Dostoevskij - The House of the Dead

What does losing your freedom means in Africa, Thailand, Brazil, Australia, Singapore and Norway?
When an English professor, criminal educator and criminal justice activist embarks on a 2 year pilgrimage to prisons around the world what you have is an astounding collection of stories and memories, that will make you ponder if our justice system is really working.

Either if you are a student or you work in the justice field this is a book worth reading.

Read and discuss the topic on The Serial Reader Blog

[Margot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro studiato per l’esame di filosofia morale.
A una delle lezioni ha partecipato anche Baz Dreisinger, l’autrice del libro.

Inizialmente pensavo di dare al libro 3 stelle (mi ha urtato un po’ il modo di lasciare le statistiche, cosa che già molte altre recensioni segnalano, anche se in realtà le fonti sono citate, diversamente da ciò che molte recensioni segnalano), ma gliene do 4 perché:
1) l’autrice compie effettivamente un viaggio attraverso la giustizia, nel senso che effettivamente visita varie carceri nel mondo e da ognuna di queste raccoglie elementi per comprendere meglio come migliorare il sistema
2) per una volta, in un libro in cui si parla anche di Stati africani non si segue il ragionamento idiota (e razzista) del “tutta l’Africa è così”. E no, non lo è. Anzi, dal libro (soprattutto dal capitolo sul Ruanda) si capisce che non lo è. Dreisinger fa giustamente notare che moltissime storture derivano dall’imposizione del sistema carcerario coloniale, cosa che soppiantò una giustizia autoctona che non solo era più adatta al luogo e alla popolazione ma funzionava anche meglio. La reintroduzione dei gacaca in Ruanda, infatti, ha avuto conseguenze positive su tutto il Paese a fronte di un passato recente che prometteva tutt’altro
3) ciò che secondo me il capitolo su Singapore fa capire è che, purtroppo, riteniamo sufficiente il solo carcere. Al di là di come la si pensi sul tema, bisogna ammettere che separare una persona dal mondo esterno e reinserircela senza aiuti o senza preparazione dopo ANNI (ma anche solo pochi mesi basterebbero a fare dei danni) significa immettere in società una persona che potrebbe tornare a delinquere. Il fatto che il tasso di recidiva sia più basso a Singapore da quando è stato introdotto un sistema per il rientro in società lo dimostra. Non basta cambiare il sistema penale: bisogna agire su più piani per rendere più sicura la società
4) il libro non si occupa di filosofia in senso stretto. Si occupa anche di filosofia, ma di fatto ciò che presenta è qualcosa di vivido e presente, reale. È reale rispetto a teorie filosofiche come quelle di Foucault. Basta prendere la nozione di micropotere foucaultiana: nel sistema filosofico dello strutturalista francese appare come una parola a vuoto; Dreisinger invece non dice mai «micropotere», eppure ce lo mostra. Lo mostra in più momenti, per esempio quando riferisce che alcuni programmi (tra cui il suo Prison-to-College Pipeline) riescono effettivamente ad aiutare le persone. Lo mostra quando ci dice che il reinserimento di un uomo incontrato in un carcere ugandese avviene con l’aiuto di un suo amico del luogo, prima scettico sulla giustizia di tipo non retributivo ma che poi si è convinto altrimenti: è bastato che l’autrice chiacchierasse con qualcuno che stava al di fuori della prigione, appunto, per apportare un seppur minimo cambiamento. Questo è micropotere in azione.

Personalmente il libro lo consiglio (è scorrevole e si lascia leggere con facilità) e ritengo che possa essere una buona lettura per approfondire una tematica, quella del carcere, che ci colpisce molto da vicino.

[Black Bibliophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

Highly recommended if you are interested in mass incarceration on a global scale and the importance of colonialism and slavery in European, African and Asian Countries and their relationship to correctional/punitive systems.

Didn't need a white woman's opinions on countries of color and how she "feels them in her spirit".

[Jonathan Maas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Groundbreaking? Not quite. Necessary for the world? Absolutely.

Dreisinger visits nine countries and sees how they handle prisoners. That's it. Like the documentary 'Happy' - she does this in a straightforward way. She visits places and asks questions.

The answer isn't one anyone wants to hear, probably even more Inconvenient than Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming: Teen Edition.

The answer is mainly found in Norway - 'Treat prisoners like dirt, and they will be dirt. Treat them like humans, and they will be humans, and won't come back to prison.'

Dreisinger goes to where no one else wants to go - and talks to people that society prefers to ignore. The answer comes with clarity - if you want to save money, and actually correct people in correctional facilities, act like Norway. That's it.

Regardless - great book!

[Maythazin Minthu · Rating 4 out of 5]

read for class. incredibly insightful and dives into the world's prison systems. one lesson always: empathy, empathy, empathy.

[Yupa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro duro, ma coraggioso, e appassionato.
Libro duro, perché l'autrice sceglie di trascorrere due anni, per scriverlo, girando le carceri di mezzo Mondo, da quelle invivibili dell'Africa sino a quelle (apparentemente?) linde e umane dell'Europa: dal Ruanda all'Australia, dal Brasile alla Norvegia. Nel tentativo di migliorare le condizioni di vita dei detenuti, e forse di andare anche oltre.
Libro coraggioso, perché l'autrice non nasconde, in un Mondo e un'opinione pubblica che viaggiano in una direzione opposta, la propria posizione decisamente abolizionista, il suo intento di andare al di là dell'istituzione carceraria e del sistema della punizione, sostituendoli con la riabilitazione, la giustizia riparativa, il perdono.
Libro appassionato, perché, al di là dei nudi resoconti di due anni di viaggio dentro e fuori le prigioni, al di là dei numerosi dati che l'autrice fornisce per corroborare la propria posizione, al di là di questo si sente il trasporto di un'anima che crede fortemente in quello che fa, che ha una sete inestinguibile di una giustizia che non si confonda con la vendetta.
Tutto questo lo fa partendo da una terra, quella del Ruanda ferito dal genocidio del 1994, dove forse il perdono sembra davvero impossibile, ma dove esso diventa particolarmente necessario proprio per assicurare una convivenza, la pace e la possibilità di guardare avanti per un popolo che la Storia, più di vent'anni fa, ha diviso in carnefici e vittime in uno dei peggiori massacri del secolo XX.
Il giro lungo il Mondo della pena detentiva è volutamente strutturato in un crescendo: si parte dalle peggiori condizioni immaginabili, quelle delle carceri del Terzo Mondo, per approdare da ultimo in Norvegia, la terra delle "prigioni aperte", delle pene relativamente miti, della generosità pubblica, dove chi ha infranto la legge viene visto come qualcuno che ha sbagliato, una persona da reintegrare, e non come un mostro da schiacciare.
È un lungo viaggio al termine del quale l'autrice si mostra, vuole mostrarsi speranzosa, nonostante lei stessa ammetta che anche il modello norvegese stia mostrando delle crepe: non per sue eventuali deficienze effettive, ma per un'opinione pubblica che, a causa del corto circuito tra politica a mass media diffuso ovunque, chiede sempre maggior severità nei confronti dei trasgressori e pare sempre più incapace di accettare gli sbagli.
Ma se a prevalere in futuro saranno la speranza o lo sconforto, la razionalità o la paura, questo nessuno può saperlo. Dice bene l'autrice che, comunque, ogni minimo sforzo nella direzione di una giustizia giusta, ogni goccia in un mare può alla lunga fare la differenza, e così può essere anche per questo suo piccolo grande libro.
E se arriccio un po' il naso quando la sento parlare con tanta passione delle virtù, nella soluzione del problema carceri, del comunitarismo (urgh!) e dell'intervento statale (non mi meraviglio che presenti la Norvegia come una piccola utopia), poi mi dico che ci si può anche passar sopra se anche questo contribuisce a essere quella piccola goccia che, nel lungo periodo, chissà, arriverà a scavare e ridurre in polvere la dura roccia del pregiudizio e della vendetta.

[Jason · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing; I was hoping for a cross-cultural examination of prisons. What I got instead was essentially a memoir that borders on White Saviorism about how great the author is and how they go into these prisons and get the prisoners to change their lives, by asking them to journal, roleplay, and talk about their feelings. There’s some useful stuff in it but the signal-to-noise ratio is too high for me, I think the author at times argues that we should get rid of prisons completely, and that capitalism is responsible for high rates of incarceration.

[Vannessa Anderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I found myself flipping pages looking for the page that would hold my interest and found I had neared the end of the book, I realized Incarceration Nations and I were not compatible.

[Tonya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Christmas present from Arianna.

I found the author’s opinions quite different than mine and far from society’s in general. Ultimately, I did not find her suggestions or views all that helpful. I agree that the American criminal justice system is broken. I agree that mandatory minimums and imprisonment on drug related charges are gravely in need of restructuring. However, I believe violent crime must be punished and that some people need to be removed from society, perhaps even permanently. While her views on forgiveness and redemption are admirable, they are better placed in a Church, not a government system. The book focuses exclusively on the needs and interests of the prisoners while ignoring their personal culpability for their incarceration, society's need for protection and, most strikingly, the true pain and profound suffering of victims. I also felt that her ideas were legally naive in that the ideas she supports would result in arbitrary punishment based upon [someone's judgment] of how sorry an offender is and whether or not the victim forgives the offender. Arbitrary justice is not justice. Even the impetus behind mandatory sentences was aimed at eliminating arbitrary sentencing which may have been influenced by issues of race, gender or privilege. Lastly, the author's views are devoid of any discussion of what she feels to be any individual offender's personal responsibility for the crimes he or she committed. Male prisoners were all victims - of a bad home life, poor family support, lack of social support from a government, drug addiction, institutional racism- all of which, in her opinion, should relieve them of responsibility. The female prisoners she meets in Thailand are overwhelmingly in jail because they were led to crime by husbands or boyfriends. The people she deals with don't have actions with consequences, they are victims of "systems" who "put" them behind bars. The whole world is racist and unfair, therefore, nobody is responsible for their shortcomings and those who haven't suffered the same fate are responsible for them and shouldn't act to punish them but should, instead, forgive them. Again, that's church, not government. The author is dripping in her own white privilege and has paternalistic, condescending and, really, sexist attitudes that are disturbing. Her liberalness borders on communism - as she believes the world would benefit by Norway's attitude that no one should believe they are special - but that everyone should settle for a certain mediocrity. This from a person who's resume is packed with awards and professional accolades. I've given this two stars for her apparent commitment to those she serves and the strength of her convictions. However, I did not share her deep concern for rapists and murderers - and absolute lack of concern for their victims.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about the U.S. criminal justice system, in how it compares to criminal justice systems around the world. This book is broken down into nine chapters, each chapter describes a specific country's criminal justice system. This book delves into the history behind the U.S. criminal justice system, as well as the countries that are highlighted in this book. It talks about the author's journey in finding answers to questions that were haunting the author's mind.
I really enjoyed this book. It was an extremely interesting and eye-opening subject. I am very satisfied that the author chose to write about prisons in the way that she did. Hope for a better system was alive throughout the book, no matter how gloomy things seemed. Actually the hopeful and positive attitude of this book is what made it so good. I think the author chose a well-rounded group of countries to discuss, from Africa to Australia to Norway to Brazil. Each country had a different and sometimes similar attitudes in how they treat/punish citizens who break a law. There were personal stories narrated throughout the book. It was a great balance of personal stories and facts, history and statistics well mixed in together. I really was pleased with the author's unbiased, nonjudgmental and open minded take on this subject. The author's compassion was very palpable throughout this book. I love books that are written from deep within the author's soul. Her compassion and nonjudgmental stance inspired me to do the same while reading this book.
Not only did this book discuss the different criminal justice systems around the world but presented solutions to the many issues in this system. So it doesn't just leave you hanging and saying to yourself okay great there are so many problems now how on earth is it going to be fixed? While good, logical solutions were presented, I am just not sure how realistic they are. I don't know, it is probably my fear that is stopping me from believing that things can change. They say after all how common it is to be afraid of change, and the only way to change is to overcome your fears. So for all of you who read this book, go into it prepared to face maybe some of your own fears.
I would like to thank Netgalley, Other Press, (the publisher) and Baz Dreisinger (the author) for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Come and read my blog at http://turnthepagereviewsbyjill.blogs...

[Darcia Helle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not many of us would choose to spend our time away from work touring prisons around the world, but that's just what Baz Dreisinger does. The result is a fascinating, often depressing, and sometimes hopeful look at various types of prisons, ways of treating people who have committed crimes, and programs that offer various levels of rehabilitation.

Most, if not all, of us here in the US have heard the "revolving door" term in connection with our prisons. Our methods of dealing with crime, and even how we define crime, clearly are not working. Here Dreisinger gives us insight and perspective into exactly how and why we've gone wrong. While she doesn't claim to have all the answers, she does force us to, at the very least, acknowledge the monster we've created.

Some readers might accuse Dreisinger of wearing those proverbial rose-colored glasses, and over-reaching in her hope to eradicate most types of prison institutions. She might even agree with those people, to some extent, as she calls herself a "tenacious optimist". I personally find it refreshing to read the words of someone who works hard to make this world a better place for all of humanity. We have such an extreme climate of hate politics, with news and politicians focusing on feeding fear, that we risk losing sight of the fact that we are all, every single one of us, equally human. The way we treat each other reflects back on and influences our own humanity. We can work toward a better image, or we can watch our image become the monster we fear.

The problem I find with books such as this one is that the only people reading them are the people who already know that our prison system is a mess. This book is a well written, engaging, easy to read narrative. I hope it finds its way into the hands of the masses, so that we can finally snap out of our complacency.

*I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.*

[Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really struggled with this one. It seemed like a perfect, timely book about the various prison systems in the world (although not the one in the US). I thought this would be a good compliment to other books I've read (such as 'The New Jim Crow') and give me insight. Instead, this seemed like a really tough read.
 
The premise is that author Dreisinger looks at a different country (which is mostly divided chapter by chapter) and their prison systems. What it's like to be in these prisons, why these people were put behind bars, how they re-enter society, etc. Unfortunately the book really didn't come across that way. As other reviews said, there's something really off about the writing style. Parts of it are quite compelling, but overall the book seems jumbled and unsure of itself.
 
There's a section in the chapter on Rwanda where the author suddenly had a flashback to her childhood and her experiences going to a Hebrew school. It was a bit uncomfortable because while the memory and the story behind it was powerful and interesting on its own, it was a bit frustratingly derailing. The author is trying to connect this to the survivor she is speaking to and that he IS a survivor--something she'd never fully understand despite having many family members killed in the Holocaust. Instead, her attempt falls flat. I could see where she wanted to go, but something about her writing is awkward and couldn't quite make that connection.
 
And the book is like that. I wonder if it had been a series of reads or had been a longer newspaper article or something that was stretched out to a book. It's not a terrible book and I suspect there are those who would get a LOT more out of us than I did. But as it is it didn't quite work for me.
 
Borrowed from the library, would recommend the same.

[Kym McNabney]

INCARCERATION NATIONS: A JOURNEY TO JUSTIC IN PRISONS AROUND THE WORLD caught my attention immediately. I have been involved in prison ministry since 2004. I have experienced firsthand the injustice. The works of power, dehumanizing, greed, politics, injustice, repercussion from what we are born into, and the affects of such doings.

Before purchasing a book, – unless it is of a favorite author – I scan the reviews. The first one I go to is a one star. I like to know the best and worst of what people are saying before making a decision. Next, I will take a peek in the book. This gives me a glimpse into the authors writing. The voice, the flow, their knowledge of the basic rules of writing a book. Due to a one star review, I was a little leery about ordering INCARCERATION NATIONS, but the subject matter was too vital to pass up.

In my younger years, I thought introduction were optional. Later in life, I found that to be far from the truth. Quite often, they are a crucial part of the story. INCARCERATION NATIONS has an introduction you don’t want to miss. From the first page, I was hooked. I don’t recall being so quickly drawn into a non-fiction, to a point I felt I was reading a great novel. MS. DREISINGER is without a doubt a gifted writer.

INCARCERATION NATIONS is a MUST read - for everyone. For those working in the system, inmates – present and former – victims, and all others. The issues surrounding our locked up nation has spiraled out of control. To a point we MUST stop and rethink what we are doing. We must put an end to this madness.

*Please see my profile for more information on this review.

[Robert S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incarceration Nations is a book with a fantastic amount of potential and an excellent premise but with some fundamental issues that curtailed my enjoyment while reading it.

The Good:

Exploring nine different countries with often times radically different ways of examining incarceration is a nice touch. The author also manages to get some interesting interviews and tidbits while spending time in these countries.

The Bad:

The book often reads like a series of eight different essays with an overarching point that the author approaches the line to but never quite crosses or rather comes out and says.

The "Ugly":

The author will randomly drop some particularly startling statistics at random intervals in the chapter and then move on within two sentences. The sources for these statistics are noted at the end of the chapter but it can really take the reader out of the book. The author also seems to want to make the point with this book that we should be ending incarceration altogether, a radical idea that may make for an interesting book of its own, but unfortunately the author never quite comes out and says it. I would have enjoyed more of an analysis of why these countries have the prison rates they do beyond the War on Drugs and it might have actually helped bring the author's point home.

Overall, Incarceration Nations has some interesting moments but there are better books (in my opinion) out there on the subject. Your mileage may vary and you may find yourself getting more out of it than I did though.

[Manatee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dreisinger writes about such a timely topic and this book is such an eye opener in so many ways. I will definitely recommended it to my friends for its vivid profiles of the many resilient, tragic, prisoners that Baz meets , but it really deserves two stars because of the writing. The writing is not clunky or difficult to understand,but it is obvious that each article or piece was written originally as a blog article or NPR podcast. The writing tends to tell and not show and gives off the feeling of a classroom lecture. This spoken or blogged style is probably captivating for Baz's students, but just does not work as well for a printed book. This is a shame because the issues that Baz tackles are of urgent global importance. Societies really need to rethink their current ways of addressing crime and building prisons.

I will personally hand this book to an acquaintance who is a criminologist with a caveat about the writing style.
Do authors read the first Goodreads reviews?

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a piece of privileged, white savior drivel that doesn't contain a single original thought. The people she goes to "help" around the world are confused by her motives, but I'm crystal clear: she's done some good work in the US, and now it's her imperative to impose those colonized ideas on the rest of the world.

[Vanessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book greatly suffers from its framework: it's written like a travel memoir rather than a work of scholarship or investigative journalism, and that has the unfortunate consequences of centering the writer's whiteness/discomfort and burying the important data in extraneous details and descriptions. Was tired of it after the first few pages, and ended up skimming for data by the end.

[Leanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly researched and poorly written, as summed up by the author herself in this quote:

“For weeks before our departure, Lorraine had sent me e-mails. How about this drama exercise? You ought to read this book about Thai gender roles. And maybe this one on women and prostitution in Thailand?

I’d told her to relax; overplanning is counterproductive.”

[Kari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book, and found it very compelling to learn about various prison systems around the world. After reading this I really found myself thinking about the penal system. (Read for Book Riot Live 2016)

[Sharon Meagher]

I did not receive it.

[Patrick Ede · Rating 5 out of 5]

Top 5 books I’ve read this year. Few people have the experiences to write a book like this which makes it a diamond in the rough. There is a quote she uses in the book that is something like “if you want to know what a culture really values, look at how they treat their lowliest citizens” and wow that is so true. Because of this, I learned much about what other countries value and much about what we Americans value and the beauty and shame of is all.

I will say there are details in the book that are very graphic.

Personal take always: I saw how race and class effect every prison system—not just the US. I saw how powerful forgiveness is from Rwanda—nothing sort of miraculous. Seeing Bas compares the bitterness her Jewish culture holds towards the Holocaust and the restoration that forgiveness can bring between Tutsi and Hutu was new to me and amazing to read. The book is worth reading just for that part. I heard creative solutions and terrible personal stories. I learned how private prisons aren’t necessarily as evil as I thought. The history of prisons is really short. The quality of the American system is probably in the middle. I didn’t realize how risk adverse we are as Americans comparatively. I didn’t know how perfectionistic Singapore is in the fear of not being unique in Asia. Similar but different for Tailand. I learned a ton about South African apartheid that I never knew. How gangs have an enormous effect on life in Brazil, prison and the government. Art can be a liberating force for the human soul but also an opioid and false savior. Politics are probably the most shaping force on our perception of crime, probably much more so than morality. I saw how the news can control our minds and values. I felt sadness and compassion and hope. It’s so helpful to look at other countries and see the same problems in a different context, giving you a great new perspective.

From a literary perspective, I thought it was amazing. She’s an English professor so of course its easy to read, gripping, and not overly long. She’s honest, for instance, she is an Agnostic, but when people faith in Jesus bring healing and help in South African, Rwandan and Ugandan prison she shares the details even though she doesn’t believe in it. That gives the whole narrative a lot more validity in my assessment. She also shares how she wrestles though emotions.

From a political perspective, Bas seems very much in line with the book “New Jim Crow”. I read someone’s negative Goodreads review that said Bas just used her experience to punch an “abolition of prisons” agenda which very much disagreed with. I’m 99% sure Bas never says that in the book. I think she just wants reform and I don’t think she was pushy. The stories speak for themselves, enough that she doesn’t need to add a lot.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-crafted analysis of prison systems all over the world. Baz highlights importance of restorative justice and mending broken relationships that have been caused by the incarceration system. Historical and economic forces have led the US to spread the culture of controlled punitive environments that are meant to reform; only all they bring is increased rates of mental illnesses, further isolations from the social order, and ruined lives. As she says, all one can do is learn more about the system and spread the word. Bit by bit we can change society and bring down large systems that are keeping thousands undernourished on a social, physical and emotional scale.

"Crime is disrespect and irresponsibility, goes the lesson. We don't need more punishment; we need to address broken relationships... Instead of asking, as traditional criminal justice does, what laws have been broken, who broke these laws and how we can punish those who broke them.. restorative justice asks altogether different questions. Who's been hurt? What are their needs? How can we meet those needs?"

From economist Glenn Loury, "our society - the society together we have made first tolerates crime - promoting conditions in our sprawling urban ghettoes, and then goes on to act out rituals of punishment against them as some awful form of human sacrifice."

"Arts-in-prison programs are potent agents of individual change, yes. But are they also in some way a distraction from the whole social order itself, from the powerful forces at play in the criminal justice system as a whole? They're smoke screens, obstructing our view of the big picture, which is that when it comes to justice and safety and humane treatment, prisons simply don't make sense. Big-picture change is not about tinkering with or enhancing what is, but conjuring up bold imaginings of what could be. For all that I love and believe in it, art can be an obstacle to such imaginings because of the very thing it does so well: dazzle us, and then distract us, with beauty."

"The only reason these boys aren't in the community, with their families, is because we as a society are risk-averse. But we'll never have a risk-free society. There's liable to be a crime tonight - there's nothing we can do about it. Risk is built into life. A life ruled by fear is not living. Fear builds prisons."

[Rachel Desmond · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had a lot of good things going for it, and it had a lot of meh things. First, it was a little tooo progressive for me personally. I appreciate with Dreisinger and agree with a lot of her points- prisons are not usually rehabilitative nor correctional, instead they can foster more criminality and act as a breeding ground for more crime once people get out of prison. We also need to be serious about reentry programs- prisoners will usually one day be released back into the community. The justice system also doesn't help victims as much as it could- a lot of the victims I've worked with don't really even care if their perpetrator goes to prison, they just want to be left alone. There's a lot of room for growth in helping victims, not just punishing or getting revenge on perpetrators.

That said, there were a lot of blind spots in this book. Talking about solitary confinement- what should we do with gangs who operate behind bars? If not separate them and keep them from associating with the other convicted people they're living with? Also- where are all of the resources going to come from to fund re-entry and behind bars activities? I would have liked to see this book expanded to talk about current prison reform activities in the untied states and how we can make concrete changes, in addition to the info shared.

I thought the writing was easy to read and very enjoyable, I was super engaged throughout.

[Maureen Stanton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I deeply admire this author, both for her life's work with the Prison-to-College Pipeline project, and the ambitious undertaking that is the subject of this book--a whirlwind tour of prisons in several country's prisons, from a horrific and inhumane supermax in Brazil to a more enlightened and truly rehabilitative prison in Norway. At first, I felt that the chapters for each prison visit, where Dreisinger sometimes taught writing workshops, or talked about education in prisons, were too quick. I wanted more depth, and to get to know more deeply the people she met. And that is a shortcoming of the book, but the cumulative effect of visiting so many prisons is, by the end of the book, an exhausstive testimony to the utter failure of prisons but also a more hopeful vision of what works far better than punishment--actual humane rehabilitation for most of those incarcerated. Ultimately, this is an important book in the global and national conversation of how we should treat people who have committed crimes, most of whom will rejoin society after their prison stays. Dreisinger's writing is fluid and at times eloquent and poetic, and she seamlessly weaves in relevant statistics and background that amplify the personal stories, and demonstrate her deep knowledge and experience in the fields of penology and education.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incarceration nations is not a scholarly comparative study of prison systems around the world. So if that is one expects going in, you will necessarily be disappointed. However the subtitle of the book, "A journey to justice in prisons around the world," hints at its actual purpose. It is more of an intellectual and quasi-spiritual travel journal of a journalist/professor of English who samples what incarceration, justice, and redemption mean and look like in Singapore, Rwanda, Norway, Jamaica, Australia, Uganda, and so on. There is no neat methodology to how she chose her "sites," which vary greatly in terms of their level of security (medium versus maximum versus minimum) and the types of educational programs she is describing. In a way it feels messy--at one point we're in a women's prison in Thailand where there are dramatic, cathartic performances, at another point we're in a supermax in Brazil...how to compare these experiences and policies? She puts some statistics in with her descriptions of each country, but they feel somewhat hastily injected and there is no real sense of trying to give an objective analysis of how the countries compare. In spite of this, I think the book achieves what it sets out to achieve--providing a firsthand, human account of how the uneasy marriage between capitalism and incarceration, and the exporting of ideas of punishment from the United States around the world has led to the dehumanization of millions and the ruptures of entire communities. She is self-reflexive and her voice feels honest, the emotions she experiences do not present themselves as superficial or contrived. She openly acknowledges her privilege and how she tries to distance herself from the white savior complex.
I think this book is an excellent introduction to comparative studies for students and the intellectually curious alike. Her writing is lucid and fresh, and the book can stimulate further inquiry for those interested.