Why this `genius` scholar is mapping out the world`s largest jail system
(The Guardian United States)

Kelly Lytle Hernández, who received the MacArthur `genius´ grant, views prison abolition through the eyes of rebelsKelly Lytle Hernández grew up seeing the effects of the immigration and law enforcement system first-hand. Her upbringing has driven her groundbreaking work as a historian, documenting the creation and expansion of border patrol and how Los Angeles came to operate the largest jail system in the world. Her most innovative project, Million Dollar Hoods, has mapped the nearly $1bn cost of incarcerating 17,000 people in LA.The 45-year-old University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), professor recently added `genius` to her résumé, as a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship award. She´s working on a new book about a group of Mexican intellectuals and workers who launched a revolution when they came to the United States in the early 20th century, driven out of Mexico by the dictator Porfirio Díaz. Continue reading...