Robert Chesshyre
Jailhouse Blues
Mother California: A Story of Redemption Behind Bars
By Kenneth E Hartman
Atlas & Co 199pp £9.99 order from our bookshop
The United States is by a long chalk the most punitive democratic society. Two and a half million of its citizens are in jail – one in every 100 adults. The United Kingdom, no slouch in the punishment stakes and one of the most enthusiastic lockers-up in western Europe, has 84,000 prisoners. If the UK matched the US, its prison population would be 500,000. A hugely disproportionate number of American convicts are black, and incarceration is undermining fragile communities.
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
What's the worth of being zen when the icecaps are melting and populism looms? The world's leading thinkers including @ronpurser will assess the 'mindfulness' craze at the world's largest philosophy and music festival, @HTLGIFestival, this May. Learn more: http://ow.ly/STu650ywARQ
'Feminists have been caricatured so often that it’s worth recalling the many obstacles placed in the path of women campaigning for equal rights.'
@polblonde on @helenlewis's new book about difficult women throughout history.
http://ow.ly/Is9c50ywe7G
'Too many historians sneer at our forbears; scolding them if they follow the customs of their own day ... tut-tutting if the poor things are detected having a little fun.'
From the archive, Mary Clive on medieval travellers.
http://ow.ly/yk8a50yrjSG