Thought Provoking Idea about the US Penal System – 4 stars
Inmate Frank Villa is serving a life sentence for the shooting of a policeman by his partner when they were attempting to rob a bank. Knowing that parole is not likely, Frank has put his time in prison to good use by earning a masters degree, reading incessantly, and writing up a plan for an alternative to the current prison system. His idea is to allow prisoners to live and work, along with their wives and families, in an isolated community rather than within prison walls. Now he needs to find a way to present this proposal and have it taken seriously by officials who can actually implement such an idea. To Frank’s shock, his proposal is adopted for a trial community with 300 prisoners, but instead of the deserted island in the Hawaiian chain he recommended using, the prison system has allocated a deserted US Navy base in the Aleutian Islands as their new home with Frank in charge. Instead of guards, the prisoners now must fight the climate, the system, and often each other to make a go of their new, but very limited freedoms.
As pointed out in the book, the idea of penal colonies is not a new one. Australia and the colony of Georgia were both originally set up as such. But no such experiments have been tried in modern times.
I found Frank’s character to be well-drawn as a victim of the poor choices he had made in his youth who has learned better with the help of a fellow inmate. Other characters run the gammit from petty street hoods to sociopaths, plus a similar range among their wives and children. The characters’ backgrounds are varied, but many are explained well enough to become real to the reader as the story progresses. I did question why so many wives were willing to relocate with their prisoner husbands, away from civilization and the lives they had built for themselves and their children. A few of the characters’ motivations were explained, but for the rest, it remained a mystery.
The logistics of the prison colony were not well explained in the book. How did the island get food or other deliveries of necessities? Or mail? The island was not allowed telephone service or contact with the outside world via email or radio, except for one fax machine. Since there were non-prisoners living on the island, why limit their contact with family and friends on the outside? I can easily see welfare groups starting protests against innocent children being sent to live in such conditions in a similar real life situation, but no similar protest or discussion was mentioned in the book as the story developed.
If readers can ignore the lack of details about the operation of the prison island, what remains is a thought provoking study of people, some determined to make a difference, others determined to take the easy way to make a buck, and others just trying to make the best of a bad situation. Even more telling are the attitudes of the prison system officials and politicians who were almost going out of their way to ensure that the experiment was a failure before it even could begin.
Recommended.