the >> thank you for being here and also alisa roth your wonderful book and for me to serve as a moderatori have done some reporting on prisons and how difficult it is your book has seen that the l.a. county jail the chicago jail the women's prison in oklahoma among many others behind the walls of these institutions that are notoriously difficult

>> thank you for being here and also alisa roth your wonderful book and for me to serve as a moderator so i have done some reporting on prisons and how difficult it is your book has seen that the l.a. county jail the chicago jail the women's prison in oklahoma among many others behind the walls of these institutions that are notoriously difficult to get into. how did you do that? >> some places were very welcoming you mentioned the cook county jail in chicago to bring awareness to this crisis through the criminal justice system and they feel that it is part of his job to see what is going on so he even has an open letter on his website from across the country the way that they respond to the crisis i was invited to i jail in virginia i felt they were letting me look under the bed to say we do the best that we can. other places when i was doing reporting in alabama he said i need a letter from your editor soma editor kindly wrote a letter we went back and a set i'm sorry i cannot let you come. they said can we talk about this or negotiate? so finally after back-and-forth he said i sugge

>> thank you for being here and also alisa roth your wonderful >> thank you for being here. that's a drive-- dive right in. i've done a little bit of reporting on prisons and i know how difficult it is to get inside them. your book has seen that the la county jail, the chicago jail, women's prison in oklahoma among many others that have seen behind the laws of these this is who she is better in-- notoriously difficult to get cuto. how did you do this? >> some places were welcoming. you mentioned the cook county jail in chicago. the sheriff there has been very active in bringing awareness of this crisis of people homeless in the criminal justice system and he really feels like it's part of his job to bring people into see what's going on, so he even has an open letter on his website to the other sheriffs and wardens across the country and one thing he mentions as a way that sheriffs and wardens should respond to the crisis is to invite journalist in. i was invited into a jail in virginia where a prisoner had died a really awful death and i felt like they were bringing me in t

>> thank you for being here and also alisa roth your wonderful >> thank you for being here. that's a drive-- dive right in. i've done a little bit of reporting on prisons and i know how difficult it is to get inside them. your book has seen that the la county jail, the chicago jail, women's prison in oklahoma among many others that have seen behind the laws of these this is who she is better in-- notoriously difficult to get cuto. how did you do this? >> some places were welcoming. you mentioned the cook county jail in chicago.