A number of years ago, riding my bicycle on an urban bike-path that passed by Baltimore’s prison, I encountered an unusual spectacle: Throngs of people in their finest clothing, standing shoulder to shoulder on the freeway pass overlooking the prison, waving at the tiers and rows of tiny windows that faced the roadway. It was heartbreaking, not just because of the juxtaposition and contrast between the apparent cheerfulness of the scene, the pain of separation and the reality of incarceration, but that the scene illustrated the scale and effects of excessive incarceration in our nation
