Summary Of A Place To Stand By Jimmy Santiago Baca

Broken On All Sides is a 2012 documentary film directed by Matthew Pillischer. Though it primarily focuses on the county jail system in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the message of the film greatly extends to the rest of the United States. In a nation where over one in one hundred of U.S. adults are incarcerated, the United States imprisons the greatest number of people in the world (Petit, 2012). In fact, though the U.S. only makes up five percent of the world’s population, it incarcerates a quarter of its prisoners (Pillischer, 2012). What Broken On All Sides seeks to present is just how “unjust” the criminal justice system is as those most negatively affected by the increasing incarceration rate in the U.S. are young men of color, particularly African Americans.

Hill shows a corrupt law system through discrimination in courtrooms from different aspects in her poem. In the first stanza line 2-3, Hill is introducing the the sad and horrible truth of the American legal system. According to Hill in Line 2 she states “....misery of iniquity…...history of iniquity”. Hill argues that the unhappiness of African American in prison due to their long and extensive prison sentence is a prime example of the corrupt law system. This supports the thesis statement because during the “war on

In “Puerto Rican Obituary” by Pedro Pietri, the author takes his readers on a journey of the oppressive life of a Puerto Rican immigrant. He describes a vicious cycle of stagnancy in which immigrants work endlessly without reward. Hopeful every day that the American dream they once imagined would come to fruition, but instead they are continually faced with trials and turmoil on every hand. Instead of uniting as a body to work towards greatness, the immigrants grow envious of each other, focusing on what they lack instead of the blessings that they currently attain. Contrary to the ideals of early immigrants, Pietri portrays Puerto Rico to be the homeland. The ideals of early immigrants have drastically changed throughout the development of America. Petri paints a completely different picture of America throughout his poem. Early immigrants describe an America that is welcoming, with endless opportunities, and a safe haven. Despite earlier depictions of the immigrant experience, these ideals are challenged because they weren’t integrated into society, were inadequately rewarded for hard work, and were disadvantaged due to their socioeconomic status.

Some parts of the book highlight the social issue with incarceration while the other part there are political discussions of possible solutions to try and fix such a corrupted society.

A prison is a facility in which bad people are forcibly confined and denied of many of right their rights as a form of punishment for doing a crime. In the past many Asian American were unjustly placed into prison like facilities even though no crimes were committed. In both Okubo’s Citizen 13660 and Yang’s The Latehomecomer, both narrators are taken from their homes and forced in to confinement, were their freedom was unfairly taken from them, because of a war and their race. In the internment camps both Okubo and Yang are dehumanized by having constrictions, living in disgusting conditions, and a loss of identity. Thus, both narrators are forced to make dramatist changes to their lifestyle during their time in confinement.

With no doubt, mass incarceration has produced broken people from a broken system. What breaks the heart even more is knowing that there are collateral consequences that follow these ex-prisoners throughout the rest of their life. Those who come out of the incarcerated system struggle to get back on their feet due to discrimination. Marginalization of felons can be found anywhere—specifically in jobs, housing, and even in debt that they cannot afford. Iris Marian Young introduces the birdcage metaphor, where one wire of the cage represents racism. However, there are many wires that create racism, and each of them have different approaches in keeping the bird, or the disadvantaged, trapped in the cage. Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim

MK Asante, in his book Buck: The Memoir, highlights the devastation of mass incarceration on the family structure and on individuals, particularly young individuals, who are incarcerated. Asante utilizes an informal tone and jargon the way in which the penal and justice systems dehumanizes those it is meant to reform. Asante’s informal approach and use of jargon turns the issue of mass incarceration into a conversation that engages readers. His feelings about the penal system and justice system are spelled out in the form of a narrative, thus making it easier for the reader to remain engaged. Brian Stevenson focuses on a variety of factors and their contribution to mass incarceration such as a lack of knowledge about mental health and the deterioration of one 's well being as a result of imprisonment. He utilizes anecdotes

The incarceration rate in America is high. In fact, the highest in the world (Zuckerman, 2014). But should it be? According to Bibas (2015), “Though America is home to only about one-twentieth of the world’s population, we house almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners.” (para. 1). America, it seems, in its ‘War on Drugs’, has been incarcerating criminals, even non-violent drug offenders, at a high rate. As more offenders are being incarcerated, more stories are being written, including horror stories about what goes on behind prison walls. Considering the nature of some of the crimes committed by inmates, and being mixed in with the violent criminals, non-violent offenders have no place in this hell. Because of overcrowding, abuse of the inmates, and the lack

The article, Jimmy Santiago Baca: Poetry as Lifesavor retells the challenges and hardships Baca experienced. Rob Baker, the author, informs the readers that past experiences will continually influence decisions in the future. In the beginning it is revealed that the characters parrents abandoned him at the young age of seven. His troubles only worsened as time went on for he dropped out of junior high, due to not performing well academically and socially. Therefore, he fell into the wrong crowds and was eventually sentenced to prison for five to ten years, at the age of twenty-one. Poety helped him to overcome the mental and emotional impact that prison imparts with the individual. Baca now uses his experiences to reach out to the community by becoming a teacher to encourage children to embrace their own stories.

Abstract: In Jimmy Santiago Baca’s book, A Place to Stand, prison isolation serves as a way for Baca to heal the wounds from his past and rediscover what he wants to do with the rest of his life. Initially, isolation is a destructive force, but over the course of his sentence, it becomes a positive, life-changing force for self-realization instead.

The article then jumps to present day, in which he uses his past to relate to current convicts and help them overcome the position that they are in, by allowing the prisoners to understand their own culture and those of different cultures,

When arriving at Florence State Prison Jimmy Santiago Baca’s life changed. Upon resaving a letter from a man named Harry he became interested on learning to read and write. Harry’s letter gave Jimmy some sense of belonging. He stated his feelings on the letter, “I was eager to communicate with someone to alleviate the boredom of the dungeon.” All it took was a paper with words to take someone away from that place they despised. Harry had sent Baca a dictionary so he could learn new words. To Jimmy this opened a new world to him. This gave him an opportunity on having control over something the prison couldn’t take from him.

Over the last half-century, the United States has turned more and more frequently to the use of incarceration as a form of punishment. Sentencing policies and stricter laws requiring mandatory minimums for certain offenses, no matter the conditions of the offense, have boosted the incarceration rate in this country to staggering heights. The typical issues that affect America’s prison systems are reflected in Jennifer Gonnerman’s book, Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett. Elaine Bartlett’s life, along with the lives of surrounding family and friends, is forever changed by her 16 years of incarceration. Elaine Bartlett is only one of many Americans that have been wronged by the cruel and unusual punishments implemented by a society claiming to have a fair, balanced, and equal justice system. A fair and balanced justice system that convicts people who carries the right amount of drugs in weight to have a mandatory incarceration for a minimum of 15 years to life, yet those who commit murder or rape may receive a lesser sentence. There is also the issue of transitioning back into society after being incarcerated for so many years. Incarceration does not just punish the offender; the offender’s family and friends are also negatively affected by the conviction and imprisonment of a loved one. Children could be put in the system or need to be raised by other members in the family. This could lead the children to deviate down the same path as their parent who

After reading the book I have gained a new understanding of what inmates think about in prison. Working in an institution, I have a certain cynical attitude at times with inmates and their requests.

The poem is filled not with resentment but with optimism, the cheerfulness of that “great, silly grin" (21) that he believes will take him to a future where they will be as American as anyone else. But he also understands that people like him, mainly Mexicans who come to the United States to strive for something better in life.