"prisoners could safely determine their own reality"

one of the most eye-opening and faith-in-a-world-without-prisons-increasing books i have read recently is the newly published, When the Prisoners Ran Walpole, by Jamie Bissonette, with Ralph Hamm, Robert Dellelo, and Edward Rodman.

below are just a few excerpts, which by no means do the text justice. read for yourself, and please share your thoughts.

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For many of the volunteers, the experiences from March to May of 1973 revealed two surprising things: prisoners could safely determine their own reality, and a prison with no guards that was run democratically by prisoners functioned smoothly and was profoundly productive. (212)

The NPRA (National Prisoners Reform Association) was first and foremost a prison-based project. Even though the prisoners recognized that prisons themselves were a primary cause of crime, and the NPRA was an abolitionist organization, the leadership knew from experience that prisons were maintained by complex interests. The path away from punishment and toward problem solving could not be left to prison administrators or advocates or community support groups--no matter how dedicated. (213)

The NPRA was a full employment project. One of the most crucial tasks a prisoner undertakes upon release from prison is that of finding employment. The NPRA recommended that prisoners work with federal and state governments, along with private industry, to develop job-training programs within prisons. A job-placement network would complement the job-training programs. The NPRA was clear: the jobs needed to be decent and pay fair wages, or prisoners would return to crime. This brief recommendation for decent, well-paying jobs for prisoners was written when the whole country was experiencing the high unemployment and skyrocketing prices that became known as "stagflation." Yet, the NPRA was not about to buy into the idea that there were "not enough" jobs for everyone. The fact that society was willing to waste substantial amounts of money keeping them in prison led them to draw their own conclusions. They knew there were enough resources; they simply needed to be apportioned more pragmatically, and for the good of all people. (214)