This book is focused upon the personal and societal impacts of mass incarceration in the United States. The author’s contention is that the “War on Drugs” has resulted in changes to policing and incarceration so impactful that they have recreated most, or perhaps all, of the evils of the Jim Crow era. In brief, the idea is that putting people in prison for long periods of time ruins the lives of the prisoners while in prison and for also for the rest of their lives, but also their families and ultimately the society as a whole. Alexander does a very good job of putting it all into perspective, including making the case that the negative impacts are mainly to the black and brown communities while the financial rewards are enjoyed mostly by white “middle class” people and businesses.

I found much of the book to be tedious reading because it rehashed the same ground several times, and partly because I am already aware of many (or most) of the problems that she describes. For readers that haven’t thought deeply about these kinds of issues perhaps it remains fresh and interesting. That said, I did find the last chapter to have many very interesting, and new to me, ideas where the author offers some suggestions for a path forward to a future where Jim Crow no longer has a welcome home, and where all castes, or classes, get fair and equitable treatment. One of the interesting ideas that she puts forward is that perhaps the way we are currently implementing “civil rights” has become more of the problem than a solution. Maybe the idea of being “color blind” is the wrong way to look at the problems and the solutions. The problem with being color blind is that it changes the focus from “fixing” the entire system (including solutions for disadvantaged whites, blacks, and browns) and instead focuses on individuals who make individual mistakes (or choices).

An example is the problem of long term, mass incarceration for drug use. The prevailing narrative is that individuals make poor choices by using drugs, get caught, and are then punished for their evil ways. Another point of view might be that there are societal reasons why some many disadvantaged people use drugs and why so many more of them get arrested and incarcerated than a similar population of “advantaged” people. Maybe the causes both of use, and of the use of prisons to solve so many crime problems, has deeper roots than the badness of individuals.

It is apparent that improvements created by civil rights and individual exceptionalism does not float all boats – it floats a few special cases, but it sinks many more, including whites that are bypassed on the social scale and therefore end up paying the very real costs of things like affirmative-action. I ended up at the end of the book wondering what sort of changes to Society will be required to move to a truly more equitable situation for all. Obviously, we need to figure out how to work together to find a joint solution rather than break up into special enclaves where we are all protecting our part of the pie under the mistaken idea that there it is a zero-sum game where the advancement of one necessarily results in the demotion of another. Continuing on the current path is far too dangerous, and too expensive in terms of tax supported dollars and lost resources.