What We Know - Vivian Nixon and Daryl V. Atkinson
I think the most important thing a person can do when they read this book is to sit down, take a step back, and listen. Depending on your degree of knowledge of the US judicial and prison systems you may or may not agree with some solutions, and you may hear yourself saying “OMG” out loud at times. But what is really, really important is that you let each and every essay sit with you for a while, and listen without judgement or need to analyze and react. Let those who have had real experience of being incarcerated by and in the US judicial and prison systems take the podium and discuss reforms.
In one of the first essays we are asked to really imagine ourselves behind bars. Not just imagine yourself for a moment, and then step away from that image, but really stand in the place he describes: feel it, smell it. That’s when you can start to see the huge disconnect that lies between what we imagine we are doing in terms of prison reform, and what actually takes place in prisons across the country. That is the disconnect that we need to really understand when we read through the remaining essays.
Digital literacy, the school to prison pipeline, prison debate clubs, ideas on how to make re-entrance into society easier and safer: there are so many ideas in this book, as well as many different views of how the prison system works in different states. Did you know that in Maryland a sentence of life with the possibility of parole doesn’t mean anything different than a sentence of life without the possibility of parole? I didn’t. Now I do, and now I also know that I need to look deeper into systems in the state of California where I currently reside.
Mass incarceration is a scourge on our society, one that is tightly woven with systemic racism and white supremacist policies, and overally affects Black and Hispanic communities. Earlier this year I was invited to attend the opening of a very important exhibition at the California Museum here in Sacramento. Entitled smallasaGIANT, it was a large-scale photo and conceptual art exhibit created by artist Ise Lyfe, containing the documentation of how devastating the US history of juvenile incarceration is. During the opening we had the chance to listen to the stories of several former incarcerated people who were convicted as adults while they were still children. These men, and one woman, spent decades in maximum security prisons for crimes they committed as children. While the school to prison pipeline is no secret to anyone, hearing personal stories from people who were locked inside this pipeline made it all the horrifying. This is why I think that What We Know is a must-read: we can fight for justice and the dismantling of these horrific policies, but unless we actually understand deep down how prisons work the changes we can make will not be effective.
Compiled and edited by Vivian Nixon (Executive Director of College & Community Fellowship) and Daryl V. Atkinson (JustLeadershipUSA), What We Know is a compilation of 23 essays written by formerly incarcerated and incarcerated people, depicting an array of different reforms that could improve the justice system as it stands today. I recommend this to anyone interested in prison reform, but also to those who don’t understand what needs to change - this is a necessary read.
Thanks to Netgalley and The New Press for the advance copy in return for an honest review.