Incarceration Nations
Page 29
And ultimately, the picture is bigger than America is. While we may be starting to slay our demons here in the United States, we have created a monster with tentacles entrenched in communities across the globe: peculiar institutions speaking manifold languages from sea to shining sea. We’ve exported a bereft system to the world. Such is the manic-depressive nature of prison history, marked by progress and regress, then progress yet again. It’s the nature of this work as a whole, too. For every student who begins college in the fall, another is on the verge of being rearrested. March forward, step back.
The key is to keep marching. Justice work is ultimately a grand redundancy, restlessly demanding more of itself: more labor, more movement, more struggle, more victories and losses. And that work is powered by the potent thing I strap on daily, like a life vest, the thing that buoys me and keeps my spirit alive with mission and meaning: hope.
Acknowledgments
Two of the most beautiful words in the world are these: Thank you.
It is my honor to dole them out:
To John Jay College of Criminal Justice for supporting both this book and the Prison-to-College Pipeline, every step of the way. To the Office for the Advancement of Research and the English Department for critical travel and research grants, without which I could not have written this book. To wonderful English Department chairs Allison Pease and Valerie Allen. To President Jeremy Travis and Provost Jane Bowers, whose backing and encouragement have been gracious and immense.
To the Prisoner Reentry Institute at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, home to the Prison-to-College Pipeline and a stellar group of activist-scholars whom I’m proud to call colleagues and collaborators-in-justice: Bianca Van Heydoorn, Ann Jacobs, Daonese Johnson-Colon, Krystlelynn Caraballo, and Maja Olesen. To Superintendent Kathleen Gerbing, Deputy Superintendent Alicia Smith-Roberts, and the staff at Otisville Correctional Facility for making the Prison-to-College Pipeline possible.
To the world-changing prison activists around the globe with whom I’ve been privileged to collaborate, whose work inspires me daily: Dukuzumuremyi Albert (Santos), Eric Mahoro, Brent Bell, Jocemara Rodrigues da Silva, André Kehdi, Dr. Napaporn, Pastor Jonathan Clayton, Yvonne Lloyd, Carla Gulotta, Brian Steels, Nils Christie, Lasse Andresen, Tom Eberhardt. Likewise, to my brilliant comrades on American shores: Bianca Van Heydoorn, Kirk James, Marlon Peterson, Jeff Aubry, Ali Knight, Debbie Mukamal, Khalil Cumberbatch, Glenn Martin, Vivian Nixon, Soffiyah Elijah, and Todd Clear.
To all of the individuals behind bars in the nine countries I visited, who graciously shared their stories, writing, and spirits with me, and who permitted me to be their student instead of vice versa.
To the organizations who graciously hosted me and/or assisted with access behind bars: the African Prisons Project, Never Again Rwanda, Hope Prison Ministries, the Kamlangji Project, the Yellow Ribbon Project, the Singapore Prison Service, SCORE, Thailand’s Ministry of Justice and Office of Justice Affairs, Curtin University, Brazil’s Rehabilitation Through Reading program and National Prison Department, and the Norwegian Correctional Service. And to Gary Hill for some critical introductions in this regard.
To the editor par excellence—and sheer force of a human being—that is Judith Gurewich, for standing by this book from the moment she heard of it.
To my indefatigable agent, Sarah Levitt, who persistently believed in the importance of this project and my ability to complete it.
To my editor, Anjali Singh, whose eagle eye and patient hand made this book vastly better than it was.
To my brother Malik Yoba and my sister Beth Skipp, whose love sustains me on a daily basis, whose bond with me runs deeper than biology ever could.
To my brilliant, fierce inspiration of a mentor and mother-sister, Lynda Obst.
To my dear friends who are really my family—my soul brothers and sisters, liming partners, ever-willing shoulders and ears, intellectual sounding boards: Lynn Joseph, Penny Vlagopoulos, Kirk James, Jeffrey OG Ogbar, Jeanille Bonterre, Jackie Simmons, Debbie Sonu, Monika Levy, Helene Sola, Vitoria Setta, Trish Perkins, Tommy Smith, Sanjay Ramanand, Richard Perez, Oscar Michelin, Ornella Schneider, Anya Ayoung-Chee, Natasha Ali, LisaMarie Stewart, Karibi Fubara, Joanne Kehl, Andy Kasrils, Jessie Ben-Ami, Sean Field, Jama Adams, Hank Willis Thomas, Andre Honore, Anand Vaidya, Audrey Moore, Donna Augustin, Carleene Samuels, Daniel Kramer, Edrick Browne, Nathaniel Quinn, Yadi Perez-Hazel, Clinton Hazel, Jonathan Gray, Perry Salzhauer, and Luigi Moxam. And to Keith Sharman for the early reads and ceaseless encouragement.
To my Dreisinger sisters: Tam, Naomi, Riv, Sar. And to my parents, who raised me to never stop asking the most important question of all: Why?
Finally, to the islands in the Caribbean—especially Jamaica and Trinidad—which sustain my soul, spirit, and intellect. Thank you for keeping my heart wide open, as it should be.
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