In Just Mercy, Stevenson shows us the inhumanity of the U.S. prison system. Today, we will discuss the road to dismantling that system with a leading abolitionist and One Books spring speaker: Andrea Ritchie. Andrea Ritchie has over 30 years of experience in organizing, litigating, writing...

Xavier McElrath-Bey didn’t understand what it meant to be tried as an adult when he was 13. But after serving 13 years of his 25 year sentence, his mission has become to work on behalf the victim of his case and all the incarcerated youth handed extreme sentences. Now, at age 45, he’s the ...

The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, founded in 2006, built eight youth prisons, or as they are formally called “youth centers.” Two closed in 2012, another in 2016. This August, The Final Five Campaign launched to close the last five youth prisons in Illinois. In this episode, we got...