Prisoner Reentry from a Personal Perspective

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	• Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett Jennifer Gonnerman Picador, 2005 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 19 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

recommend this to EVERYONE!

I think this book is crucial reading for any person who believes we have a functioning criminal justice system in this country. It's not a particularly sophisticated analysis of the problem, but it does its job quite well- offering a snappy, quick-reading, heart-wrenching portrait of one family thrown horribly awry by the disgraceful american gulag.

One sided but worth reading

Very compelling and well written account of one's woman's experience with the criminal justice system. This is by no means an impartial view of the subject; the author obviously buys into the belief that the subject of the book is a "victim" of the system. Although there is no doubt her sentance was out of the proportion to the crime, it is untrue that her crime was a "first offense". Elaine Bartlett engaged in welfare fraud, possession of stolen goods, working without a license, tax fraud, various drug laws and child endangerment prior to her arrest. Still and all, this book is a good introduction to those who want to get an insider's look at how poor choices can have multi-generational effects.

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Prisoner Reentry from a Personal Perspective

Expertly crafted by Jennifer Gonnerman, this biography traces the life of Elaine Bartlett, a resident of a housing project in East Harlem, who at a young age was arrested for selling a small qualtity of cocaine to an undercover police officer in 1983. She was subsequently sentenced to serve 20-years-to-life under the draconian Rockefeller drug laws. From 1984 until she received executive clemency from Governor George Pataki, Bartlett spend the next 16 years in the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, where she initially experienced some adjustment problems before becoming a model prisoner. Following her release on parole in 2000, Bartlett returned to a dysfunctional and stressful life and to a world that had undergone substantial changes.

While she availed herself of some educational and self-improvement programs during her period of incarceration, Bartlett was ill-equipped to deal with the complexities of urban life upon her release. Saddled with a questionable value system, Bartlett experienced difficulty in finding suitable employment, managing her limited financial resources, maneuvering the social service system, avoiding persons with criminal records, reestablishing herself as the mother of her children, and providing some semblance of order to her chronically troubled family. Were it not for a few responsible friends, a forgiving employer, and an understanding parole officer, she would have likely found her way back into prison.

Despite her personal limitations and the challenges she faced, Bartlett survived her period of parole supervision and was discharged in 2003. According to the author, Bartlett celebrated her release from parole "by going to the apartment of a former coworker and smoking weed."

Life on the Outside is a remarkable book in that the author has been successful in "getting inside the head" of her subject and, in doing so, she has provided an honest, revealing, and instructive case study into the life of an offender.

This is a well-researched book on post-incarceration issues, and it could easily serve as a supplemental text for a college course dealing with correctional policy.

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Haunting on many levels

Gonnerman presents Elaine Bartlett's story in a direct style that's ultimately chilling. Bartlett was sentenced to sixteen years for a first offense of drug-trafficking. With no self-pity, Bartlett tries to start a new life -- one that will have meaning for her and her family. We learn how the system actually places obstacles in her path.

This book joins others, like Capturing the Friedmans (on DVD), Daughter's Keeper (a novel by Ayelet Waldman) and The Man Who Outgrew His Prison Cell (by Joe Loya) , in raising our awareness of waste of money and human lives.
Perhaps the real lesson of this book is that the term "convicted felon" increasingly has come to mean, "wrong place, wrong time, not enough money." Or, as Johnnie Cochran wrote in his own book, the color of justice is green.

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The challenges of life after prison.

Elaine Bartlett's story is at times mind-boggling. A product of an impoverished life in New York, Elaine decides to make quick money by delivering a drug package. Caught up in a sting operation, Elaine is sent to prison for 20-years-to-life in her first offense due to the stringent Rockefeller drugs laws in NY.

Author Jennifer Gonnerman follows the story of Elaine from her life growing up in New York as one of a number of siblings who eventually face tremendous struggles with imprisonment and drugs to her journey of trying to reestablish her life after receiving clemency 16 years into her sentence. Gonnerman writes in a simplistic, direct style that weaves the political and social climate with the details of Bartlett's personal journey. She gives a fair portrayal of Bartlett who is not altogether a saint nor completely an unredeemable sinner.

This engaging story leads one to think deeply about strict, mandatory sentencing laws and their unbalanced impact on portions of the American citizenry. It compels one to think about the failure of prison to prepare inmates, particularly mothers, for life after their release. It leads one to consider whether the American citizen truly considers rehabilitation of offenders or simply focuses on isolation. This book is a testament to the power of a good biography to move the reader to think deeply about a number of important issues.

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WHY ARE SO MANY BLACK MEN IN PRISON?

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