Eric W Senn

In for Life Eric W Senn

This autobiography, written by a victim of California's Three Strikes law, is both an intimate personal story and an implicit critique of the U. S. criminal justice system. In an era of renewed calls for minimum sentencing laws, stories such as Damien Lartigue's provide essential perspective.

The California prison system is in the news for several reasons-none of them good. Its overcrowding is a scandal already condemned by the Supreme Court but still hardly relieved. Efforts to prepare prisoners for life outside have been virtually abandoned. The whole system is set up to make recidivism normal.

Under the three-strikes law, Lartigue's third "offense," which was largely a misunderstanding, demanded a sentence of twenty-five years to life. But his story is of a boy with Aspergers, an absent mother, and an abusive father. That the boy ended up with a criminal record is not surprising. What is surprising is the extent to which he transcended his condition and his situation-for Lartigue is not only a prisoner but also a lay theologian. He thought his way into something like process theology before he encountered anyone who teaches it. He wants to explain process theology in understandable ways, and he details his more and less successful efforts to do that (including an early attempt with Manson murderer Charles "Tex" Watson). But it is Lartigue's story as a whole that teaches as much theology as do his explicit presentations.

After reading this book, you will never again think of our justice system or our prison system in the same way. You may already have your facts and your statistics straight. But these facts and statistics are real people with their individuality and special needs. Damien Larigue is one of those people, and his story needs to be heard.