I Don't Wish Nobody to Have a Life like Mine reading

Join us for a book reading and signing of I Don't Wish Nobody to Have a Life like Mine with author David Chura.

Since the 1990's introduction of get-tough-on-crime laws, there has been a 35 percent increase of juveniles in jail and their placement in adult prison has risen by 208 percent. Westchester County jail made headlines in November 2009, when the Department of Justice filed a 42-page report accusing the prison of violating the constitutional rights of its inmates. Key findings concluded that the jail "failed to adequately protect inmates from physical harm caused by excessive force used by staff; and failed to provide adequate medical and mental health care, particularly with respect to juveniles housed in the jail's punitive segregation unit."

In this important book, Chura reveals the gritty prison culture, where inmates are often regarded as nothing more than "human garbage" and the emphasis is no longer placed on rehabilitation, but rather punishment. Chura asks readers to question the treatment of children in today's justice system. The stories he shares of the men and women, the inmates and uniformed staff, are a reminder that there is no line that divides us and them, "the haves and the have-nots ... the keepers and the kept ...the right and the wrong, the good and the bad." We all live on common ground and to a certain extent, "we are all children of disappointment."

About the Author

David Chura has worked with at-risk teenagers for forty years. His writing has appeared in the New York Times and multiple literary journals and anthologies, and he is a frequent lecturer and advisor on incarcer­ated youth. He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.