Unveiling Truths: Can Parole and Prison Really Transform Lives?
Here, as in High Risers, Austen writes nonfiction in a wonderfully novelistic way. In another writer’s hands, the extensive, detailed reporting might have been a slog, but Austen avoids such pitfalls, manifesting meaning and creating a climate in which readers can connect with the human side of the big issues presented. By zooming in on two men’s journeys through the prison and parole systems, Austen transforms what might otherwise remain abstract into propulsive storytelling.
First, there’s Michael Henderson, who landed in the Illinois corrections system in 1971, when he was just eighteen years old. The crime committed by teenager Michael is the sort that many parents of teens—or someone who vividly remembers his own adolescence—can imagine happening when teenagers, alcohol, and a gun are combined. In an instant, Michael took the life of another young person. By the time Austen met him, more than forty years had passed since Michael was sentenced to 100-200 years in prison (with the possibility of parole). Whoever Michael was when he was locked up all those years ago, it becomes clear to the reader, bore little resemblance to the senior citizen who waited and wondered whether he would ever again live as a free man.
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