Most people think they know what ails the American criminal justice system because the experts keep telling us: Too many people go to prison-even nonviolent offenders who've committed low-level infractions. They're locked up in an overcrowded system, and they are not rehabilitated. Instead, they're reenergized to do more damage to society.

Ed Barajas, who retired from the Federal Bureau of Prisons after twenty-seven years, argues that we've gotten the narrative wrong. He challenges the notion that prisons are a necessary evil at best and a shameful institution at worst. More...

Most people think they know what ails the American criminal justice system because the experts keep telling us: Too many people go to prison-even nonviolent offenders who've committed low-level infractions. They're locked up in an overcrowded system, and they are not rehabilitated. Instead, they're reenergized to do more damage to society.

Ed Barajas, who retired from the Federal Bureau of Prisons after twenty-seven years, argues that we've gotten the narrative wrong. He challenges the notion that prisons are a necessary evil at best and a shameful institution at worst. More...