**A Next Big Idea Club must-read title for November 2023**

"Correction reads like a novel; you race toward the ending, genuinely concerned about what happens to these two men — do they ever get out? Do they die in prison? Correction is gripping, and makes you care about Henderson and Veal and the prison system in general." ―Chicago Sun-Times

"The self-knowledge and resilience of these men gleam against the harsh conditions of prison, and Austen transforms a debate often conducted on the plane of stereotype and fearmongering into a close study of real people in a broken system." ―The New Yorker

“[Austen] explains our world, its codes of conduct and how we adapt, and sometimes unravel, as we try to survive."–The New York Times

“A critical contribution to discussions of how to reform American criminal justice, illuminating how we might change the process of giving people second chances and re-envision the very purpose of our carceral system." –The Washington Post

“Austen provides a thoughtful and clarifying look at parole and its often fraught place in the arc of the criminal justice system in the U.S.” ―Booklist, starred review

“Ben Austen… returns with Correction a tight (less than 300-page) history of U.S. prisons and penance, alongside tales of two men and their endless paths. A damning act of intense reporting leading to unsettled questions: Do we believe in atonement? If so, what does it look like? And how serious can we be when a slight shift in courtroom momentum condemns a life? You’ll hear a lot about this one.” ―The Chicago Tribune

"A cleareyed, compassionate, urgent appeal for prison reform." ―Kirkus

“Austen brings his skills for unflinching storytelling to take aim at mass incarceration and America’s deeply flawed justice system. This illuminating work of narrative nonfiction challenges readers to consider for ourselves why and who we punish and how we might find a way out of an era of mass imprisonment.” ―Chicago Review of Books

"This is everything you could hope for in a book: an engrossing narrative of two men doing hard time, a deeply-researched history of incarceration in America, and a damn good read. Austen’s exhaustive reporting forces us to consider anew the nature of violence, the capriciousness of the justice system, our belief in second chances, and the purpose of punishment altogether. Correction ranks among the very best books on life inside and outside of prison I have ever read." ―Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Evicted

"Correction is a marvel of meticulous reporting. Ben Austen has crafted an unsparing, vivid and deeply human portrait not only of the two men at the heart of the story, but the entire system that will determine their fate. If we are to have an honest dialogue about criminal justice in this nation we must grapple with our deeply flawed parole practices. This book should be at the center of that conversation." —Jelani Cobb, Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and dean of the Columbia Journalism School

"Equal parts absolutely riveting, extraordinarily moving, and utterly appalling, Ben Austen’s latest excavation of another American policy that promised to make the nation better off, but instead ravaged the lives of countless of its citizens, leaves one haunted, but more determined than ever to do things very, very differently moving forward. One of the best books I have read in a long time." —Heather Ann Thompson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy

“Correction takes head-on the hard issues of parole, and explains why we lock up more of our own than any other country. Through the lives of two men who served far too much time, Ben Austen bares the awful truth, but also shows a way out of our mess. This book should be required reading for every lawyer and law student.” —John Grisham, author of #1 New York Times bestseller The Innocent Man

"In Correction, Ben Austen investigates America's painful criminal-justice crossroads with a necessary urgency and an inspiring moral clarity. Are human beings capable of change? Is forgiveness actually possible? Do we as a society really want justice, or revenge? Austen bears down on these questions with engrossing immersive reportage and transcendent heart and soul. The result is invaluable—and unforgettable." —Robert Kolker, author of #1 New York Times bestseller Hidden Valley Road

“Correction is non-fiction storytelling at its finest. The award-winning journalist Ben Austen follows the harrowing fifty-year journey of two men, convicted of horrific crimes, and their path to parole. And yet the question of whether they will be released or not, or of their innocence, is really a poignant and powerful story about our guilt for building the most punitive and shameful punishment system in the world, and our willingness, as a society, to change.” —Khalil Gibran Muhammad, author of The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime and the Making of Modern Urban America

“In Correction, Ben Austen masterfully brings to life the very real human conditions that underlie an otherwise opaque and cumbersome US parole system, one fraught with holes that seem to swallow up its own efficacy. As readers, we’re compelled to ask why closure or redemption should be so hard to come by. A powerful work about a poorly understood phenomenon in our country.” —Amanda Williams, artist, 2022 MacArthur Fellow

2023-07-28
What the flawed parole system tells us about American (in)justice.

As Chicago journalist Austen clearly demonstrates, America’s commitment to mass incarceration over the last half century has exacted a staggering human and economic toll. Moreover, the logic of incarceration—what it is meant to achieve in relation to offenders, victims, and the public at large—has remained disastrously ill defined. In this follow-up to his acclaimed debut, High-Risers: Cabrini-Green and the Fate of American Public Housing, Austen explores the senselessness of the parole system. The experiences of Johnnie Veal and Michael Henderson, men convicted of serious crimes at young ages and held in prison for decades, provide illuminating case studies for how the system has gone wrong. Parole decisions have often hinged on irrelevant criteria or impossible standards, and the possibility of an early release from a long sentence often simply amounts to false hope. For those granted parole, other daunting obstacles remain in place: Adequate help in transitioning from prison life is routinely unavailable, and parole supervision often seems designed to catch parolees in infractions in order to send them back behind bars. Systemic racism in policing and discriminatory sentencing guidelines have also meant that nonwhite Americans have suffered disproportionately from these failings. The author’s contention that the recent history of the parole system represents an ethical catastrophe is compelling. “Imprisonment became the default response to crime,” he writes. “Imprisonment also became the de facto response to poverty, lack of social mobility, addiction, joblessness, housing insecurity, mental health issues, and segregation. A sense of justice in the United States was shaped by a profound lack of mutual responsibility and collective identity.” Despite a few clunky passages, Austen argues persuasively that improving the carceral system must involve shifting emphasis from “vengeance and permanent punishment” to genuine rehabilitation and the chance for the incarcerated to lead productive lives after serving their time.

A cleareyed, compassionate, urgent appeal for prison reform.