Eating the Ashes - Seeking Rehabilitation within the US Penal System

Serving a very long prison sentence, Compton-Wallace has experienced some of the best and worst of correctional theory and practice. In this study, she relates heart-rending images of lives in disarray and describes programs that have been successful in producing rehabilitation. In Eating the Ashes, Ms. Compton-Wallace provides a brief history of the shift in penal theory, from "treatment" to "punishment," during the past few decades and provides anecdotal illustrations of the effects that shift has made. She describes programs that have proven successful in the restoration or rehabilitation of criminals. She relates some of the painstaking effort it took for her to earn the right to be a working part of such programs; she provides case studies of other successful examples, and gives credit to those who provided the counseling. Sadly, such programs are now increasingly scarce or nonexistent.