"Brittany K. Barnett was only a law student when she came across the case that would change her life forever--that of Sharanda Jones, single mother, business owner, and, like Brittany, Black daughter of the rural South. A victim of America's ... war on drugs, Sharanda had been torn away from her young daughter and was serving a life sentence without parole--for a first-time drug offense. In Sharanda, Brittany saw haunting echoes of her own life, both...

Explores all aspects of incarceration at the state and federal levels, providing an overview of the prison system since colonial times, biographies of key figures in American penology, a chronology of notable events in penal history, and information on prisoners' rights, famous legal cases, and policy changes.