Twenty-years ago I started asking the question: Why prisons?
More specifically, I was curious about what value prisons contributed to society and to whom within society were they most valuable. Today, I still have no good answers to that question, but I have learned that the question is easier to wrap my head around when I localize my search parameters.
As I write this, 302 Corrections Drive, Newport, AR 72112 is the address of McPherson’s Unit. Arkansas’ largest, and only maximum security, prison for women.
It has a story and I set out to find it.
Instead I found something else.