American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey Into the Business of Punishment
Bauer reports on the cruelties of our current system and the larger system of mass incarceration. You can also check out this title as eBook on OverDrive/Libby.
Hear Me Out: What’s the Impact of Mass Incarceration on My Community?
The United States currently imprisons over 2.2 million people, many of them for nonviolent crimes. The prisoners are disproportionally Black and Latino.
Thirteen percent of the country’s population is African American, but nearly half of the people in the Allegheny County Prison System are Black. African Americans are nearly four times more likely to be arrested than their white peers for drug offenses, like marijuana use.
How can we break the cycle of generational poverty that creates an increase in the school-to-prison pipeline? How do we avoid continuing the cycle of mass incarceration?
The following titles will help to answer these questions as well as other questions you may have. If you’d like to have a conversation about the topic, check out the next ‘Hear Me Out’ Dialogue Series on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 from 5:30 PM–7:00 PM.
You can sign up for a free library card here. If you are new to our eResources, check out these tutorial videos on how to get started.
Looking for a good book, album, movie or TV show? We’re happy to recommend them to you! Use this Personalized Recommendations form to send us some information about what you like and we’ll curate a list just for you.
If you have any additional questions, you can contact a librarian through Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. You can also call us at 412.622.3114 or email us at info@carnegielibrary.org.
Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration
Bazelon tells the story of two criminal cases and suggests that the prosecution has too much power to manipulate the system in their favor. You can also check out this title as eBook on OverDrive/Libby.
The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap
Taibbi illustrates how the justice system favors the wealthy and disproportionately criminalizes the poor. You can also check out this title as eBook on OverDrive/Libby.
Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration
“Halfway Home” shows the difficulty that prisoners have in finding jobs, housing and rejoining society after getting released from prison. You can also check out this title as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby.
A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom
Barnett pairs a memoir of growing up as the daughter of an incarcerated mother and becoming a lawyer with her efforts to gain clemency for Sharanda Jones, a Black mother who received a life sentence for a first-time drug offense. You can also check out this title as eBook on OverDrive/Libby or as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Despite the triumphant dismantling of the Jim Crow Laws, the system that once forced African Americans into a segregated second-class citizenship still haunts America, the US criminal justice system still unfairly targets Black men and an entire segment of the population is deprived of their basic rights. Outside of prisons, a web of laws and regulations discriminates against these wrongly convicted ex-offenders in voting, housing, employment and education. Alexander here offers an urgent call for justice. You can also check out this title as eBook on OverDrive/Libby, as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby, as eBook on Hoopla or as eAudio on Hoopla.
Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair
The author gives suggestions and ideas of processes that might take the place of imprisonment as well as a discusses why it may be better to have those who committed violent crimes accept responsibility for their actions and make amends in ways that are meaningful to those they have hurt. You can also check out this title as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby, as eAudio on Hoopla or as eBook on Hoopla.
Race, Incarceration, and American Values
Why stigmatizing and confining a large segment of our population should be unacceptable to all Americans.