reviews

Karlene Faith, The Long Prison Journey of Leslie Van Houten: Life Beyond the Cult.  Northeastern University Press, 2001. Hardcover $36.95 Cdn.

The Long Prison Journey of Leslie Van Houten is a compelling read and an important story. Leslie Van Houten was 21 when she was sentenced to death for her part in the infamous 1969 "Helter Skelter" Charles Manson murders. Her sentence was converted to life in prison when the U.S. temporarily suspended its death penalty in the early seventies. Leslie and two other "Manson girls" were kept isolated in the old death row building at the California Institute for Women for many years for fear that the hold Manson had on them would be a danger to the general prison population. During this time the warden of the CIW, Virginia Carlson, invited Karlene Faith to meet these women. Faith had been teaching in the main prison and was invited to discuss the possibility of setting up courses in women's studies and other subjects for Leslie and her fellow two prisoners. Carlson was concerned for Leslie and the others and recognized that many years of brainwashing and programming, along with sexual and emotional exploitation by Manson, had left these "girls" without any sense of themselves or the ability to act on their own choices. Carlson recognized these women as victims of Manson and the growing cult phenomena, and although they were to be held accountable for the crimes they committed for Manson, she believed that they should not simply be dismissed as violent criminals. Carlson hoped that Karlene Faith could bring some awareness to these women about the growing women's movement and help them to gain some control back in their lives.

Faith says of Carlson:

She believed that any woman, however she had broken the law, was sufficiently punished by losing years of her life in prison ... She wanted the women's years in prison, however few or many, to reeducate not damage. She wanted the women in CIW to leave stronger than when they arrived. (12-13)

It was this philosophy that made Virginia Carlson take a special interest in the "Manson girls" and led her to seek help from Karlene Faith in the hope that learning women's studies would help these women to understand and undo some of the damage that Manson had done. And so begins Faith's relationship with these infamous "girls" and the forming of a special bond with Leslie Van Houten that developed into a thirty year friendship. It was this friendship and mutual respect shared by Faith and Van Houten that became the basis for The Long Prison Journey of Leslie Van Houten which includes correspondence, interviews, conversations, and experiences shared by them both.

Faith's book is extremely well written. Although it is classified as a biography, Faith incorporates feminist theory and legal rhetoric into her work. The result is a provocative analysis of the prison system that examines the gendered social processes that lead many women to prison and are key to understanding Leslie's story. Faith successfully combines a critical, feminist, academic voice with a compassionate but objective exploration of Leslie's life and experiences. What I find interesting about Faith's writing is the way she weaves her feminist teachings into Leslie's story, enabling the reader to understand the ways in which Leslie came to find herself again. Faith raises some important questions about women's experiences in prisons and challenges the reader to take a hard look at the criminal justice system and the value of life sentences that do little to reeducate or help these women.

Faith also incorporates dialogue of her own into the text, recording conversations she had with her friend and mentor, Ann Near, about the process of writing the book. These excerpts serve as a reminder that Faith's questions about the prison system cannot be answered or dealt with in the abstract or theoretical. They deal with human circumstance and the experiences of women in prison are at the heart of Faith's research and her book. Ann Near asks questions about the methods that Faith uses to examine Leslie's life and story, often forcing Faith to reassess her position. The dialogue between Faith and Near is intriguing because it emphasizes the difficult position that Faith is in as a storyteller who is also an academic, a feminist, a teacher and Leslie's friend. Faith successfully brings together all the pieces of Leslie's story with her own critical analysis to make the book the enjoyable read that it is. It is a compelling and fascinating account of a woman who is fighting for a chance to live the rest of her life free from the prison walls that still tie her to Manson. At 51 Leslie Van Houten remains in prison with no chance of parole in sight. Karlene Faith's book suggests that we should be asking why.

Kim Snowden