Too Easy to Keep: Life-Sentenced Prisoners and the Future of Mass Incarceration

by Steve Herbert

“Some guys don’t break any rules. They do their jobs, they go to school, they don’t commit any infractions, they keep their cells clean and tidy, and they follow the rules. And usually those are our LWOPs [life without parole]. They’re usually our easiest keepers.”  Too Easy to Keep directs much-needed attention toward a neglected group of American prisoners—the large and growing population of inmates serving life sentences. Drawing on extensive interviews with lifers and with prison staff, Too Easy to Keep charts the challenges that a life sentence poses—both to the prisoners and to the staffers charged with caring for them. Surprisingly, many lifers show remarkable resilience and craft lives of notable purpose. Yet their eventual decline will pose challenges to the institutions that house them. Rich in data, Too Easy to Keep illustrates the harsh consequences of excessive sentences and demonstrates a keen need to reconsider punishment policy.  

184 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 8, 2019

Reviews

[Taicheng Jin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An “easy keeper” as Herbert coined are prisoners who have received sentencing of life with parole or other de factor sentences that essentially function similarly to incapacitate the individual for the rest of his life. The tension between security and care is a common voiced opinion of many the staff that work at the correctional facility. This legitimate tension does intrigue an ongoing debate about the balance. In all, Herbert argues that retribution and rehabilitation shouldn’t be thought as exclusive punishment principles but should be instead viewed as ways to complement each other. The prison itself is the retribution, the life within it doesn’t have to be. Providing the lifers, a better outlook whether through indeterminate sentencing, better training of officer interactions, opportunities for education and work, all will eventually turn out to be more economical for the state and more humane for all.
He writes beautifully and concisely about the life in a Washington State Prison. Through his book, he is giving a voice to a portion of the population that are sealed from speaking, literally.