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Metamorphosis
How to Transform Punishment in America
Synopsis
In the past few years, the need for prison reform in America has reached the level of a consensus. We agree that many prison terms are too long, especially for nonviolent drug offenders; that long-term isolation is a bad idea; and that basic psychiatric and medical care in prisons is woefully inadequate. Some people believe that contracting out prison services to for-profit companies is a recipe for mistreatment. Robert Ferguson argues that these reforms barely scratch the surface of what is wrong with American prisons: an atmosphere of malice and humiliation that subjects prisoners and guards alike to constant degradation. Bolstered by insights from hundreds of letters written by prisoners, Ferguson makes the case for an entirely new concept of prisons and their purpose: an "inner architectonics of reform" that will provide better education for all involved in prisons, more imaginative and careful use of technology, more sophisticated surveillance systems, and better accountability.
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What Reviewers Are Saying
"This wise, searching, impassioned, and compassionate book could not be more timely, especially for its vision of the reforms urgently needed in order to make our broken system of punishment more humane."-Lawrence Buell, Harvard University
-- Lawrence Buell "Our appalling prison system guts all claims to American moral supremacy among nations. Robert Ferguson's Metamorphosis, blending indignation with learning, logic, and cool writing, deserves high praise and urgent circulation."-Arnold Rampersad, Stanford University
-- Arnold Rampersad "In the field of law, Robert Ferguson stands almost alone in his combination of historical breadth, acute critical vision, and deep humanity. Metamorphosis brings Ovid and other literary sources into a profound encounter with the rawest of contemporary experience to provide at once a harrowing account of our present prison hells and a heartening vision of how we could move out of the inferno to something better."-Garrett Epps, Professor of Law, University of Oregon, and authorof American Epic: Reading the US Constitution -- Garrett Epps