Prisoners Today, Neighbors Tomorrow
The New York Times, March 25, 2023: Prisoners Today, Neighbors Tomorrow
“San Quentin State Prison, an infamous maximum-security facility built in 1852 along the San Francisco Bay, is going to make a break from its past.
“Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that the prison, one of the oldest in the country and home to the nation’s largest death row, would soon focus on helping prisoners transition back into society. It will be renamed the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.
“‘This system isn’t working for anybody,’ Mr. Newsom said last Friday on a visit to San Quentin.
“The movement to de-emphasize punishment has been gaining momentum around the world, and in a new book, ‘What’s Prison For?’, Bill Keller explains how American prisons can better educate and rehabilitate the people who, with the exception of a few, will once again become our neighbors.
“Mr. Keller is the founding editor in chief of The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization that covers criminal justice in the United States, and a former executive editor of The New York Times. We asked him about his book. This conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.”
Additional reading:
What's Prison For?: Punishment and Rehabilitation in the Age of Mass Incarceration by Bill Keller on bookshop.org
Brennan Center for Justice, October 10, 2022: What's Prison For? In Conversation with Bill Keller
