Mr. Smith Goes to Prison, Jeff Smith
Mr. Smith Goes to Prison, Jeff Smith
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Mr. Smith Goes to Prison
What My Year Behind Bars Taught Me About America's Prison Crisis

Author: Jeff Smith

Narrator: Jeff Smith

Unabridged: 7 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/01/2015


Synopsis

The fall from politico to prisoner isn't necessarily long, but the landing, as Missouri State Senator Jeff Smith learned, is a hard one.

In 2009, Smith lied to the Feds about seemingly minor campaign malfeasance and earned himself a year and a day in Kentucky's FCI Manchester. Mr. Smith Goes to Prison is the fish-out-of-water story of his time in the big house; of the people he met there and the things he learned: how to escape the attentions of fellow inmates, like a tattooed Klansman and his friends in the Aryan Brotherhood; what constitutes a prison car and who's allowed to ride in yours; how to bend and break the rules, whether you're a prisoner or an officer. And throughout his sentence, the senator tracked the greatest crime of all: the deliberate waste of untapped human potential.

Smith saw the power of millions of inmates harnessed as a source of renewable energy for America's prison-industrial complex, a system that aims to build better criminals instead of better citizens. In Mr. Smith Goes to Prison, he traces the cracks in America's prison walls, exposing the shortcomings of a racially based cycle of poverty and crime. Smith blends a wry sense of humor with academic training, political acumen, and insights from his year on the inside. He offers practical solutions to jailbreak the nation from the financially crushing grip of its own prisons and to jump-start the rehabilitation of the millions living behind bars.

About Jeff Smith

Jeff Smith was a Missouri State Senator from 2007 to 2009, representing the city of St. Louis. After serving a year-long sentence in FCI Manchester for obstruction of justice, he is now an assistant professor at the New School's Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Planning. He is the author of Ferguson in Black and White, an ebook exploring the roots of the racial tension in Ferguson, Missouri. He lives in New Jersey.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Trevor on September 28, 2015

I read this book through and through in one reading. It first takes you through a victory and some mistakes that take on a life of its own and hard to imagine. The insights--and the waste--into prison life are both mesmerizing and painful. Jeff's prescription for how we can do better are not pious o......more

Goodreads review by amf on July 26, 2015

Just finished early release copy. While it is tagged as literature to help support prison reform, one need not worry about policy jargon. It is a highly readable account of one man's venture into a world where the rules are very different from the outside. Jeff Smith helps to put a face on a forgott......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on March 14, 2018

3.5-4 stats. As a St. Louisan, Jeff Smith helped to hone my supremely cynical attitude toward politicians. I remember his campaigns and always appreciated his views regarding the broken St. Louis school system. When it turned out he was another crooked politician with broken moral barometer, it only......more

Goodreads review by Colleen on October 27, 2015

It actually didn't take me as long to finish the book as it looks - I just wanted to read the epilogue and acknowledgements and give it my full attention. This book sucks you in from the get go and takes you on a surprising trip from the trenches of grassroots state and local urban politics to the c......more

Goodreads review by Richard on February 16, 2016

This is an excellent book that provides a valuable perspective on the criminal justice system. I hope this book catalyzes much needed reform. This country needs to decide what the objective of the justice system should be: deterrence, retribution/punishment, restitution, future protection (of society......more