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Changing Lives Through Literature

By Steve Hall

Today's Guardian reports, "Novel approach: reading courses as an alternative to prison," by Anna Barker.With one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, and the death penalty, the US state of Texas seems the last place to embrace a liberal-minded alternative to prison. But when Mitchell Rouse was convicted of two drug offences in Houston, the former x-ray technician who faced a 60-year prison sentence ? reduced to 30 years if he pleaded guilty ? was instead put on probation and sentenced to read."I was doing it because it was a condition of my probation and it would reduce my community hours," Rouse recalls.The 42-year-old had turned to drugs as a way of coping with the stress of his job at a hospital where he frequently worked an 80-hour week...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on July 21, 2010 (boomark / email).