How America's Prisons Became Its Psych Wards

[ view in browser.   add esquire@newsletter.esquire.com to your address book ]             FOLLOW US       How America's Prisons Became Its Psych Wards   John J. Lennon, a contributing writer at The Marshall Project, has written for Vice, The Atlantic, and The New York Times. He is currently in Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York. He will be eligible for parole in 2029. Joe Cardo was out hunting for half-smoked cigarettes. From my perch at the white-boys' table of the A Block yard, I watched his eyes scan the patched grass and cracked pavement. Shuffle, stoop, shuffle, stoop. It was evening rec period, May 2015. A warm front had settled over Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York, and prisoners were taking advantage. Days earlier, on the ground where Joe now stood, a Crip had been shanked in the heart and dropped dead like someone hit his off button. READ MORE       Inside One Arizona Cannabis Operation's Mission to Spread the Culture   For Sunday Goods, a little more legislative sunlight could catalyze a game-changing yield. Read On         John Travolta's 'Gotti' Is Terrible   It's as bad as—if not worse than—you heard. Read On         XXXTentacion's Death Carries a Familiar Posthumous Conundrum About Public Mourning   The rapper's murder resurfaces the wrestling match that is properly memorializing problematic celebrities. Read On         Taylor Sheridan Has Become Our Generation's Greatest Western Storyteller   This century's John Ford has reinvented the genre for an era in which drug cartels, developers, and fracking companies divide the riches. Read On         Esquire Fiction: 'Snake Stories' by Lauren Groff   Read an exclusive excerpt from the acclaimed author's new book, Florida. Read On       Unsubscribe •  Privacy Notice   esquire.com ©2018 Hearst Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Email Privacy, 300 W 57th St., Fl. 19 (sta 1-1), New York, NY 10019