The Green Machine

Book excerpt: Gene Ramone Brook -- Chaplain Brookie -- ministers to black inmates in the Green Machine, the nickname for the privatized, for-profit prison that relies on a steady stream of black and brown inmates to fill the coffers of its big corporate contractors. It's a place where anguish quickly replaces hope. Chaplain Brookie's ministry aims to tackle the issues the inmates face and prepare them for life beyond the Green Machine. But it's not having the desired impact, so he decides to do something radically different. He pulls together an unlikely team of inmates to carry out his plan -- former businessman Mr. J who has spent twenty-nine years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, bright young rapper Chocolate who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Vanilla who was falsely framed as a drug kingpin by his wealthy classmates. Chaplain Brookie faces a major challenge when a fellow chaplain tries to sabotage his plan. The complicated, intriguing lives of these colorful characters come together in The Green Machine, a rare glimpse inside prison walls that illuminates the inmates' constant battle against degradation, humiliation, and dehumanization. Combining compassion and a compelling chronicle of prison life, author Daisy M. Jenkins shines a light on the problems and challenges of mass incarceration and the enormous need for rehabilitation. The Green Machine will make you laugh, cry, and think about life -- and those living it -- behind prison walls.