The book is well written and easy to read. She advocated for a more humane justice system guided by compassion and dignity. Burton has won many awards for her work and the Los Angeles Times named her one of the Nation’s New Civil Rights Leaders. This organization helps other women stay out of prison and re-enter society. She formed a nonprofit organization entitled “A New Way of Life Reentry Project”. The second half of the book reveals her path to recovery.
This began years of being in and out of prison. After Burton’s five-year-old son was killed by an automobile, she became a drug addict. The first part of the book is about Burton’s early years in which she suffered from emotional neglect and sexual abuse. The co-author is journalist and writer Cari Lynn. 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 lives of meaning and dignity. 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 returning 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 15 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 to 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 recovery - and recognition as a leading figure in the national justice reform movement.
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