Writing My Wrongs

The best thing about this book is how you know that Shaka does make a better life for himself and his family despite the obstacles placed in his way by circumstance and his own doing. Just the day before reading this book I read in the news that the Trump Administration will begin removing restrictions on privitizing prisons (which President Obama put in place) and so while reading this it only made me angrier. Rehabilitation is possible. There is proof out there, others like Shaka who turned their lives around and made good on all the promises of doing better with a second chance. The biggest incentive for prisoners is their families. Shaka's ridiculous number of transfers further and further away from his family shows how without that contact he felt he had no reason to do better anymore. This isn't anything new. Human contact, compassion and love give prisoners the incentive to do better so they can get out and try to live a life worth living. Solitary confinement for 4+ years? That's inhumane. There's just so much wrong here, but Shaka is a wonderful writer and I felt like his story was told with much humility and grace.