Free without Freedom: life after prison

Here's a disturbing statistic: "with just 5% of the world’s population, the US accounts for close to 25% of the world's prison population." As my guest in today's episode, Lauren Kessler, argues in her book "Free," at any given moment millions of Americans are enmeshed in the American criminal just system. And while most are released back into society, within just three years almost three quarters of those freed end up back in jail. In our conversation today, Lauren and I attempt to shed light on why so many freed prisoners find it so hard to reintegrate back into society. There are many structural and institutional reasons for this, such as the lack of governmental assistance, little income or no housing options, lack of work experience (even though many prisoners work in jail), the lack of support for drug addictions or mental health issues, and so on. Furthermore, as we discuss in this episode, the US prison system doesn't seek to rehabilitate prisoners, some of whom can end up spending decades behind bars. Instead the prison complex’s primary job is to punish, and this punishment involves violence, dehumanization, the extraction of free labor, extreme isolation -- anything to shatter a person’s sense of self, stripping them of agency & personhood, and their dignity. As Lauren stresses in her work, it's the re-learning of how to be a human being again that can often times be the greatest obstacle for individuals set free. 

To learn more about Lauren's work, please visit her website at: https://www.laurenkessler.com/