After the Doors Were Locked [JJIE.org]

After the Doors Were Locked: A History of Youth Corrections in California and the Origins of Twenty-First Century Reform
By Daniel E. Macallair
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2015
350 pages

In California and across the United States, youth corrections systems have often demonstrated an inability to shape their practices to meet children’s actual needs. While other countries have dramatically lower numbers of incarcerated youth or no incarcerated youth at all, the United States continues to imprison tens of thousands of children, often in large, secure institutions that employ practices such as solitary confinement, cell block living and inflexible discipline policies originally conceptualized in adult settings.

In his new book, “After the Doors Were Locked: A History of Youth Corrections in California and the Origins of Twenty-First Century Reform,” Daniel Macallair calls on his readers to heed the lessons of history and positively transform existing remnants of California’s largely misguided youth corrections system. Ultimately, his book provides food for thought not only for California practitioners, but also for professionals across the country.

[For more of this story, written by Atasi Uppal, go to http://jjie.org/after-the-doors-were-locked/243861/]