Corrections_Today_November_December_2019

Communications & Publications

of working within such systems. Pairing these two areas together is logical because they are not separate dichotomies, but daily, real-life interactions. Whether you agree with the politics of incarceration and recidivistic reform, or for those new to this field, Griffin and Sacks have provided a basic primer on the intricacies of criminal justice systems. Paired with these narratives, the authors provide a slim glimpse of the human toil and emotional impact from both sides of the bars. Narratives interspersed throughout the book highlight how systems are charged to operate and how persons are changed and challenged by rules, responsibilities and expectations. Their shared commonality is predicated upon their roles within the criminal justice arena and are bound together by their interaction with jails, prisons, probation and parole. Those of us in the criminal justice field have our own narratives and, fortunately, professional and emotional support systems. Clearly, that camaraderie makes our work across agency lines almost seamless. Such unbiased grounding is crucial to professionals’ effectiveness and wellness; it is a necessary part of our every day and every episode functioning. Highlighting this awareness and support is crucial to our work

together and could have been emphasized more. While Griffin and Sacks reveal opportunities for engagement and constructive dialogue, the adjunct disciplines of psychology, counseling and social activism also offer support and hope not clearly delineated. There isn’t enough rehabilitative work and shared resources spurring forward thinking. Is this an argument for forward thinking academic newcomers to these fields? What do we do with these self-disclosures? Are the narratives intended to activate discussion or more community activism, or maybe both? Clearly Griffin and Sacks provide us with opportunities for open dialogue and discussion. These glimpses of the criminal justice system, a world with its various moving parts and players, is a work in progress ethically, legally, emotionally, viscerally and legislatively. Those of us in the field, including myself, are aware of these narratives, and have lived some of them, but they are more than tales. Narratives expose areas we need to highlight and enhance opportunities for the engagement of those capable of empowering colleagues involved in making changes, via constructive dialogue. We tend to believe that we can only relate core experiences that expose the narrator to the public

Correctional Fundamentals: A Personal Narrative Approach

Written by O. Hayden Griffin, III and Meghan Sacks, Carolina Academic Press (2019), 199 pp.

Reviewed by Diane Murray Ward, director and language access coordinator with the New York City Department of Correction.

First person disclosures tend to make us believe they’re genuine. We become curious when people expose their lives to us, and sometimes we feel compelled to know more. Narratives expose feelings and invite us into others’ experiences. In their book, “Correctional Fundamentals: A Personal Narrative Approach,” authors O. Hayden Griffin III and Meghan Sacks tease readers with a foundational criminal justice systems overview and the human reactions and consequences

74 — November/December 2019 Corrections Today