Gates of Injustice: The Crisis in America's Prisons

Alan Elsner, Prentice Hall, 2004

Within this community of some 2.2 million men and women, deadly infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, tuberculosis, and a host of sexually transmitted diseases run rampant. At least 300,000 prisoners suffer from serious mental illnesses. Even though up to 75 percent of them are drug and/or alcohol abusers, the vast majority of inmates receive no treatment, ensuring that they leave prison as addicted as when they entered. And, despite state and federal expenditures of nearly $50 billion annually, abuse, brutality, and neglect are a part of everyday life behind bars in the United States.

In the new book Gates of Injustice: The Crisis in America's Prisons, author and Reuters journalist Alan Elsner explores the grim reality of the US prison system, presenting a comprehensive and shocking expose of what life "from all perspectives" is really like on the inside. Elsner looks beyond the staggering statistics at the human and social costs of mass incarceration, and the impact of this epidemic on the general population.

Elsner paints a total picture of the crisis, drawing heavily on his many years of research and investigation which included visits to jails and prisons throughout the country. He interviewed inmates and corrections officers, sheriffs and wardens, prosecutors and defense attorneys, gang members and police chiefs, doctors, psychologists, child abusers, rape victims, family members and juveniles behind bars. Elsner recounts the explosive growth of US prisons in the past 20 years, and the political and social forces that helped propel the US incarceration rate to one that is five to ten times greater than that of any other democracy. Throughout the book and in its conclusion, Elsner also offers first-steps to be taken toward more widespread reform including the abolishment of mandatory sentencing and the imposition of treatment regimens rather than incarceration for individuals convicted of drug possession. Other recommendations include expanded treatment programs rather than incarceration for the mentally ill, preventive health care education programs, expanded education and rehabilitation programs within prisons, and more widespread efforts to re-introduce released prisoners back into society including connections with local health practitioners and the reinstatement of voting privileges. In support for the book, Senator Kennedy states, "Elsner makes an overwhelming case for reform, and his many sensible proposals deserve to be implemented. This book should be a wake-up call for federal, state, and local governments across America."

from the publisher