Welcome to Litsy!

Wow. For all that the structure is framed as journal entries, this was a remarkable mix of the personal and emotional with a detailed factual rebuttal of so, SO much that is wrong with Britain's prison system, and one prison in particular. Policies that sound good but negatively impact when implemented, good policies that just don't get implemented, lack of resources AND staff. Dryly humourous, empathetic, sad and horrifying. Incredible writing.

Is there such a thing as a rage headache? 😤

Evocative.

So frustrating to learn about the disparity between countries, of known solutions just not being implemented.

🤨🙄😒💸

A long-running series. 🤦🏼‍♂️

WTF.

Today's 'scratched my brain just right' sentence. 🗻⛰️

Part of the unique 'joys' of library books is finding what others have left between the pages. Some well meaning believer attempting unwittingly to proselytize to the atheist next in line in the hold list, or just a handy piece of paper used for a book mark? 🤔

Surreal.

A funny, frustrating read, it illustrates all that‘s wrong in the UK penal system (and a few other countries too, I should think). Atkins was convicted of fraud and received a 5 year prison sentence, the first year of which was spent in HMP Wandsworth (in London). He kept a diary, and this book is the result of that. It‘s an eye-opener: do we want incarceration or rehabilitation (my takeaway from this)? Is this money well spent? Great book!

Chris Atkins account of his time in filthy, rat-infested Wandsworth prison is both shocking and bleakly funny. The sheer incompetence of the management and Kafkaesque lunacy of prison systems is accurately skewered and the book ends with some proposals for reform so eminently sensible you just know they will never be enacted.