An excerpt from New Jack: Guarding Sing Sing. Larson, in keeplock for using marijuana in prison, has a discussion about the future of corrections with the author, a guard at the prison.

The superintendent had said that getting money to build new and bigger vocational shops was his number-one priority.

"I'd die to stop that," Larson said, to my surprise.

"You don't want to see this place improve?"

"No. The money should all be put back into the poor neighborhoods, back into education for children, to change the things that send people here." He held out the articles he had loaned me. "You read these, right?"

I nodded.

"Then tell me, Conover, if I understand correctly. It says here in this article that the government is planning right now for the new prisons they're going to need in ten or twelve years. I got that right?"

Again I nodded.

"That's wrong."

"What's wrong about planning ahead?"

"Because, dig this. Anyone planning a prison they're not going to build for ten or fifteen years is planning for a child, planning prison for somebody who's a child right now. So you see? They've already given up on that child! They already expect that child to fail. You heard? Now why, if you could keep that from happening, if you could send that child to a good school and help his family stay together-- if you could do that, why are you spending that money to put him in jail?"

I had no answer for Larson. He made me feel dumb in my uniform, like a bozo carrying out someone else's ill-conceived plan.