Chris Hedges: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison, Part 1

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Oct 14, 2021

On the show, part one of a two-part interview, journalist Hugh Hamilton discusses the saga of trauma and transformation in an American prison as chronicled in journalist Chris Hedges’ new book Our Class.

The United States imprisons more of its people than any other country in the world. According to the non-profit Prison Policy Initiative, the American prison industrial complex currently holds captive nearly 2.3 million people in more than 6,000 prisons, penitentiaries, jails, detention centers and correctional facilities across the country.

In his newest and positively riveting page turner, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Chris Hedges takes us behind the forbidding bars of steel at East Jersey State Prison, into a world where prisoners are people. Together, as students in Hedges’ College-level prison class, they embark on a journey of artistic and personal discovery. Tasked with the challenge of writing a dramatic play of their own, these students deliver eloquent, original and often painful voice to the heartbreaking grief and suffering that they and their families have endured.

Transcript

See also:

The Call, by Chris Hedges

Chris Hedges: God “Caged” in Jersey

From the archives:

Chris Hedges: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison, Part 2

David Swanson and Carissa Byrne Hessick: Punishment Without Trial: Why Plea Bargaining Is a Bad Deal

Chris Hedges’ Commencement Address: Integrity Forged in Cages

Chris Hedges: Mass Incarceration is a Form of Social Control and the Police Function as Predators in Impoverished Communities

Chris Hedges: Caged: Life From Inside and Outside the US Prison System

Chris Hedges: Halfway to Freedom

Chris Hedges: The Prison-Industrial Complex

Abby Martin: Tortured and Enslaved: Enter the World’s Biggest Prison

Chris Hedges: Prison State America: Corporations Use Inmates Like Slaves