Prison Diaries NPR, Tuesdays On All Things Considered

By Tamala M. Edwards Sunday, Jan. 21, 2001
    • NPR gave tape recorders to inmates and corrections officers to log six months in North Carolina and Rhode Island prisons. The resulting weekly segments and a one-hour special (on Jan. 30) are subtle but powerful. The most gripping accounts are those of the corrections officers. Do you pull close a crying juvenile or, in fear for your own safety, keep him 3 ft. back, according to regulation? Another officer deals with a more devastating dilemma: learning that the newest inmate is her son. Bitter moments, sweetly told.