Locked Down, Locked Out: Why Prison Doesn’t Work and How We Can Do Better

"The prime excuse for imprisoning people–to punish wrongdoers and serve as deterrent to others–is simply incorrect, unworkable and costing the nation many lives and billions of tax dollars. Maya Schenwar makes a powerful argument with experience, research and clear direct language that our resources can better be utilized to provide treatment, education, restorative justice practices, healing circles, the arts and more. Tough on crime? It’s tougher to care. These alternatives to bars and isolation cost far less–and have proven to work. Why then do we keep getting this wrong? I salute Maya and her courage. This book should stand out as key to finally ending the imprisoning of America."

"How do we keep people safe without prisons? Schenwar doesn’t simply elucidate the many ways in which prisons destroy families and communities; she also brings readers into the everyday workings of real-life projects that begin to answer this question. Anyone who has ever felt concerned about harm and safety should read this book."

"If Maya Schenwar’s 'Locked Down, Locked Out' had been just about her and her family’s experience with her sister Kayla’s struggles with addiction and incarceration it would have been worth the read. But Maya has given us more: the narratives of others and how incarceration weaves itself around the lives of those inside and out, until all are entangled in the vicious web. She tells us 'prison seals its inhabitants off from the world' and there is no doubt that she is correct. With 'Locked Down, Locked Out' Schenwar gives those whose names we have forgotten their names back, and gives us all reason destroy what has been this nation’s consistent and embarrassing failure."

"This book has the power to transform hearts and minds, opening us to new ways of imagining what justice can mean for individuals, families, communities, and our nation as a whole. Maya Schenwar’s personal, open-hearted sharing of her own family’s story, taken together with many other stories and real-world experiments with transformative justice, make this book not only compelling and highly persuasive but difficult to put down. I turned the last page feeling nothing less than inspired."

"Maya Schenwar’s book is a welcome contribution to the growing body of literature on mass incarceration. Read it and learn not only about how the criminal (in)justice system works and whom it affects, but also about where you fit into it. With lucidity and courage, Schenwar treats her subject in its entirety, helping us see the role played by those outside the walls. She creates a portrait of crime and punishment—and some promising alternatives—that can, if we let it, guide us toward correcting our current 'correctional' system."

"Maya Schenwar’s authentic and compelling writing gives a glimpse into the lives of people who are trapped in the U.S. criminal justice system. Woven through her chapters is an abiding personal commitment to build connections between people inside prison walls and beyond. Among books that aim to narrow the gap between law and justice, this is one of the finest."

"Locked Down, Locked Out is a much-needed look at systems of social control with a big picture perspective. A must read."

"Locked Down, Locked Out is a searing portrait of waywardness and redemption, justice arrested and deliverance detained. I read it ravenously, surprised and enlightened on every page. No one has narrated and illuminated the collateral damage of our carceral state more powerfully than Ms. Schenwar."

"Locked Down, Locked Out paints a searing portrait of the devastation caused by America’s obsession with prisons. Maya Schenwar helps us grasp the real-life human toll of mass incarceration, both on prisoners and their families, and–equally compellingly–provides hope that collectively we can create a more humane world freed of prisons. Read this deeply personal and political call to end the shameful inhumanity of our prison nation."

"Maya Schenwar proves prisons are not the solutions society should seek, but rather, that we should see them as the problem—and take steps to restructure society to bring healing to communities and families."

"Ms. Schenwar has written a tour de force—a must-read, damning account of the twisted philosophy and practice of incarceration, where prisoners are “disappeared,” condemned to a life of being marked as a “convict,” deprived of future opportunities, stripped of hope, abandoned. Until society changes its approach towards its “offenders,” until we leaven punishment with forgiveness, with reconciliation, and with restorative justice, we are all guilty as charged!"

"With vivid candor, Locked Down, Locked Out gets to the heart of one of the greatest tragedies of the prison system: the break-up of families. Both heartbreaking and joyous – an enlightening journey."

"Locked Down, Locked Out does a remarkable thing: it provides a human accounting of an inhuman system. Maya Schenwar takes us on a harrowing, inspiring journey through the horrors of the prison nation and its effects that reverberate far beyond the prison walls, as well as the creative brilliance animating contemporary movements for justice not vengeance. A guide for anyone interested in real-world dystopia and all who dream of freedom."

"This moving book makes a very important intervention into both the popular understanding and the political discussions about the devastating impact of mass imprisonment. In her riveting descriptions of what happens to individuals and families caught in the long reach of the prison nation, Schenwar makes a compelling case for prison abolition and reinvestment in communities. This book will change both what we understand about injustice and how we work for more logical and effective solutions."

"Maya Schenwar’s stories about prisoners, their families (including her own), and the thoroughly broken punishment system are rescued from any pessimism such narratives might inspire by the author’s brilliant juxtaposition of abolitionist imaginaries and radical political practices."

"Maya Schenwar brings us closer into the lives of people inflicted with the illness of drug addiction and those who love them. Her family’s story brings compassion into the picture and helps us to understand our colossal failure of using prisons to warehouse people most in need of healing."