Becoming Ms. Burton : from prison to recovery to leading the fight for incarcerated women / Susan Burton and Cari Lynn.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed May 29, 2019).

Includes reading group guide.

Includes bibliographical references.

Foreword / Michelle Alexander -- Prologue -- Now what? -- Land of opportunity -- Daddy's girl -- Hit the road -- The sacrifice -- Things you don't talk about -- The life -- From the skillet to the frying pan -- No justice, no peace -- A new drug -- Incarceration nation -- Collateral damage -- The revolving door -- The vicious cycle -- Hurt people -- A tale of two systems -- A way out -- Finding purpose -- A new way of life -- The wall of no -- Who's profiting from our pain? -- Women and prison -- A kindred spirit -- Taking food off the table -- Broke leg house -- From trash to treasure -- All of us or none -- Treating the symptoms and the disease -- The meaning of life -- The women from Orange County -- Being beholden -- Living an impossible life -- The house that discrimination built -- Women organizing for justice and opportunity -- What would Ms. Sybil Brand think? -- Without representation -- Prop 47 -- The movement -- The arc bends toward justice.

Widely hailed as a stunning memoir, Becoming Ms. Burton is the remarkable life story of the renowned activist Susan Burton. In this "stirring and moving tour-de-force" (John Legend), Susan Burton movingly recounts her own journey through the criminal justice system and her transformation into a life of advocacy. After a childhood of immense pain, poverty, and abuse in Los Angeles, the tragic loss of her son led her into addiction, which in turn led to arrests and incarceration. During the War on Drugs, Burton was arrested and would cycle in and out of prison for more than fifteen years. When, by chance, she finally received treatment, her political awakening began and she became a powerful advocate for "a more humane justice system guided by compassion and dignity" (Booklist, starred review). Her award-winning organization, A New Way of Life, has transformed the lives of more than one thousand formerly incarcerated women and is an international model for a less punitive and more effective approach to rehabilitation and reentry

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