Life Behind Bars in America by Michael G. Santos - Book Report/Review Example

Life Behind Bars in America by Michael G. Santos Introduction This book review on Inside: Life Behind Bars in America seeks to discuss and analyse the key ideas and arguments presented by the author, Michael G. Santos. This will also utilize the research methods used by the author and the book’s overall contribution to the literature in encapsulating the message that the author wants to deliver to the general public. Summary The book explores the details of what lies beyond prison life that elucidates the different stories of men and real life experiences from being confined behind bars in America. As the author himself is a prisoner who faced criminal charges of drug trafficking at the age of 23, and who was sentenced to 45 years of imprisonment, he is in the best position to shed light on the lives of prisoners while being confined within the walls of American prison cells. In a general sense, the book provides interesting details of a sense of social life that constitute America’s prison culture. Particularly, the initial chapters primarily focused on the author’s early life and how he got into serious criminal charges that would likely impose him to life imprisonment. Moreover, the latter sections of the book revealed the author’s description of the realities of life in an extremely violent prison environment. The author also provides an interesting and valuable story of the other prisoners he is incarcerated with. Through their stories, he was able to create awareness that emphasizes the need for having an in-depth understanding of the many facets comprising the American prison culture. Similarly, the book also serves as a tool for the prisoners to express their stance or way of seeing things in perspective. To a significant extent, survival is always a matter of question for the individual inmates as they face daily threats of violence in all forms. Also, emphasizing the importance of ethnography, the book provides a valuable insight into understanding the harsh realities of living behind those bars, as reflected in America’s prison culture, the correctional system, and behaviour. Analysis The general discussion of the book is a detailed account of the American prison system and the daily realities of being in jail. As someone who was confined behind bars and who personally witnessed how the system actually works as to why it seems unfavourable to rehabilitate offenders, Santos has a lot of information to offer a narrative that delivers the message toward understanding the reason America’s correctional system is a failure to preparing offenders for rehabilitation. Although the author incorporated personal interviews and conversations, participant observations, and official transcript reviews to derive information from his fellow inmates, it could be observed that he has his biases toward correctional officers portraying them as unsympathetic to the prisoners. As an opinion, Santos was able to narrate the stories of the other prisoners quite well as he deliberately protected their identities and made sound arguments in any case. In some instances, he pointed out that many of those he interviewed should not be given any release, while in other cases, he also claimed that there are some who deserve another chance and help with their rehabilitation process. In support of his claims, Santos conveys his message with the presence of violence, drugs, prostitution, and other undesirable behaviour that represents a real image of America’s prison culture. The series of stories through which the author himself has experienced and narrated by his fellow inmates also uncovered the corrupt practices and cruelty of prison officials. Furthermore, the central theme of the book highlights that the present American system of confinement is plainly correctional and does not have anything to do with rehabilitation. In view of this, however, the author has made a good point in stressing out the system’s failure to punish undesirable behaviour and reward those that are deemed acceptable. Thus, this only appears contradictory to the practical purposes of the system as this creates a relatively low rehabilitation rate. From the point of view of an insider, the book also reveals the prisoners’ weaknesses in terms of learning to adapt and how the others have exploited their fellow inmates with drugs, sex, violence, etc. While the author was able to deliver a well-documented piece of his experiences of being imprisoned, he did not talk much of his personal encounters and daily struggles inside; rather, he focused on the other prisoners’ life experiences. Nevertheless, the actual circumstances and real life scenarios contained within makes the book even more interesting to read, as it could arouse the curiosity to any reader considering that not everyone has experience of living behind bars. Additionally, an impressive feature of this book is that it allows readers to know and learn more about America’s prison and criminal justice system. The exposé in regard to the failures and inconsistencies of the correctional system should serve as a guide to limiting the exercise of power vested in the respective authorities in order to minimize the abuses and dehumanizing consequences of human rights violations. On the contrary, the author’s constant use of prison vernacular makes it sometimes difficult to read and less interesting but still, it does not fail to provide an authentic account of prison culture of the American system. As an opinion, Santos should be given credit for his strongly held claims toward the rehabilitation of the prison system for all of its irregularities and failures of satisfying society’s expectations. Not only did the author was articulate in expressing his claims and arguments, his emphasis on education while being imprisoned is even more remarkable as he earned his Bachelor and Master’s degree while being confined in jail. As such, he becomes an inspiration not only to the other prisoners but also to all the readers who find the book interesting. His portrayal of life experiences of only illustrates how he successfully served his sentence and survived of going through the struggles of living behind the bars. Contribution to Literature Based on the overall presentation and discussion of the book, Santos’ piece of literary work provides a primary source of information on bringing readers “inside” and helping them recognize how exactly the American system of confinement operates (287). While Santos recognizes that his literary contributions might lead to bureaucratic retaliation, he nevertheless admitted his willingness to take such risk with the hope of convincing others to offer prisoners with the opportunity to have their own sense of freedom. Also, with the book as a reference to conducting further community-based research, this may substantially provide better approaches for reforming America’s correctional system in regard to rehabilitating offenders once they are released from prison. On a positive note, this would also seek to reduce the increasing rate of potentially repeating another criminal behaviour while taking into consideration the status quo and consistency of American values in a fast changing society. Furthermore, the book may not only provide a substantial contribution to the literature in regard to crime and punishment but it also inspires readers to become law-abiding citizens and encourage the offenders to liberate themselves from committing criminal offences. With the interesting anecdotes presented by the author, the book also largely contributes to understanding the prisoners’ sufferings and hopelessness, as viewed from a modern context of living behind the bars. Indeed, it is a very well-written literary piece which gives first-hand information of prison life that it has become one of the significant contributions in terms of creating viable initiatives of dealing with social problems, crime, and violence. Work Cited Santos, Michael. Inside: Life Behind Bars in America. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007. Print. Read More