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The Conversation USA

The Conversation USA

When America had an open prison – the story of Kenyon Scudder and his 'prison without walls'

  • Written by Emily Nagisa Keehn, Associate Director, Human Rights Program, Harvard Law School, Harvard University
The institution's west dormitory is depicted in this 1942 photograph. Scudder demanded that no walls be erected on the prison grounds.AP Photo

In a country with mass incarceration, horrific prison conditions and a penal system suffused with racism, some American prison reform activists wistfully look to Scandinavian institutions as beacons of...

Read more: When America had an open prison – the story of Kenyon Scudder and his 'prison without walls'

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