Walls and Bars

Written between World Wars One and Two, Eugene Debs details his experience in prison (first for defying a court injunction against a railway strike, and then for a speech opposing U.S. Involvement in WWI). Rather than devote the book to an asserition of his innocence (today, neither of his "crimes" exist, and the laws prohibiting his "criminal" actions have long been held unconstitutional), Debs uses his personal experiences to highlight the absurdities and brutality of prisons as they are operated in the U.S.Despite the fact that this book describes prison life over 80 years ago, much of what Debs has to say remains fully applicable to U.S. prisons in 2003. We still lock up people who suffer from drug addiction, rather than offering them treatment; we still incarcerate young people for decades (far longer than when Debs wrote), and act surprised when they develope a "criminal mentality" after spending their entire adult lives in prison. The U.S. still incarcerates a higher percentage of its population than any other countyr in the world, and hands out longer sentences than almost any other country.Most tellingly, the prison population still consists almost exclusively of the very poorest members of society. It is still rare to find a weealthy man in any prison in America.The only reason I did not give this book five stars is because the publisher takced three speeches given by Debs after his release onto the end of the book. They add absolutely nothing, and lack the cogent analysis of the rest of the book.Anyone who is interested in crime in American, and certainly anyone with an interest in prisons, should read this all too relevant 80 year old book.