They Always Call Us

This is a sad book. Harris, famed for killing Dr. Herman Tarnower, the Scarsdale Diet author, has written a book about women in prison, specifically the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility (New York), where she is currently serving a sentence of 15 years to life. Prisoners now are called "ladies," not "girls," but prison life is still harsh, almost as nonrehabilitative as when women's prisons first opened 100 years ago. Particularly brutal is the impact on children of female prisoners. Coming from broken or single-parent families, lacking the chance to bond, these children are particularly susceptible to society's evils. Harris offers no major solutions, but hopes that as the result of this expose, some changes will be made. Sandra K. Lindheimer, Middlesex Law Lib., Cambridge, Mass.Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.