Search Results for: Prison

Night

Longreads Pick

In effect, ALS constitutes progressive imprisonment without parole. First you lose the use of a digit or two; then a limb; then and almost inevitably, all four. The muscles of the torso decline into near torpor, a practical problem from the digestive point of view but also life-threatening, in that breathing becomes at first difficult and eventually impossible without external assistance in the form of a tube-and-pump apparatus. In the more extreme variants of the disease, associated with dysfunction of the upper motor neurons (the rest of the body is driven by the so-called lower motor neurons), swallowing, speaking, and even controlling the jaw and head become impossible. I do not (yet) suffer from this aspect of the disease, or else I could not dictate this text.

Author: Tony Judt
Published: Jan 14, 2010
Length: 7 minutes (1,986 words)

118 Days, 12 Hours, 54 Minutes

Longreads Pick

On June 21, reporter Maziar Bahari was rousted out of bed and taken to Tehran’s notorious Evin prison—accused of being a spy for the CIA, MI6, Mossad. This is the story of his captivity—and of an Iran whose rampant paranoia underpins an ever more fractured regime.

Source: Newsweek
Published: Nov 21, 2009
Length: 16 minutes (4,021 words)

A body larger than life

Longreads Pick

As a comic, Billi Gordon used his girth to get laughs. Now it’s imprisoning him, but he plans a breakout.

Author: Carla Hall
Published: Oct 14, 2009
Length: 8 minutes (2,177 words)

The California Experiment

Longreads Pick

Busted budgets, failing schools, overcrowded prisons, gridlocked government—California no longer beckons as America’s promised land. Except, that is, in one area: creating a new energy economy. But is its path one the rest of the nation can follow?

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Oct 1, 2009
Length: 23 minutes (5,867 words)

Hostages of the Hermit Kingdom

Longreads Pick

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the two American journalists released last month after being imprisoned in North Korea, tell their story — and remind people of the story they wanted to cover.

Published: Sep 1, 2009
Length: 7 minutes (1,927 words)

Stories My Father Told Me

Longreads Pick

When America went to “the dark side” to fight terrorism, she became unrecognizable to the world. That’s when my father took on the case of Guantánamo prisoner number 707 and became unrecognizable to me.

Source: Esquire
Published: Jun 28, 2009
Length: 43 minutes (10,959 words)