Susan Burton got lucky by getting treatment and help but there are thousands upon thousands like her whose lives have effectively been destroyed. Burton is an ideal companion to Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow and every American should read it in order to understand the terrible human cost that the war on drugs and mass incarceration have had on our society - a cost felt way, way disproportionately by people of color - and to appreciate the nearly impossible odds people face when they get out of prison after ostensibly having paid their dues. Burton not only humanizes the deleterious impact of mass incarceration, it also points the way to the kind of structural and policy changes that will offer formerly incarcerated people the possibility of a life of meaning and dignity.Ī remarkable story - and a book you will never forget. Her organization, A New Way of Life, operates five safe homes in Los Angeles that supply a lifeline to hundreds of formerly incarcerated women and their children-setting them on the track to education and employment rather than returns to prison.

Once clean, Susan dedicated her life to supporting women facing similar struggles. On her own, she eventually found a private drug rehabilitation facility. She cycled in and out of prison for over fifteen years never was she offered therapy or treatment for addiction. As a resident of South Los Angeles, a black community under siege in the War on Drugs, it was but a matter of time before Susan was arrested. Consumed by grief and without access to professional help, Susan self-medicated, becoming addicted first to cocaine, then crack. Susan Burton’s world changed in an instant when her five-year-old son was killed by a van driving down their street.

One woman’s remarkable odyssey from tragedy to prison to recoveryand recognition as a leading figure in the national justice reform movement

her life story is testimony to the human capacity for resilience and recovery. Winner of the 2017 Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice

Winner of the 49th NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work (Biography/Autobiography) Winner of the 2018 National Council on Crime & Delinquency’s Media for a Just Society Awards

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