'The End of Marking Time' Leads to a Prison-Free Dystopia

Review: THE END OF MARKING TIME (22 West Books 2010) Author: C.J. West

Imagine waking up from a coma to a world you don't recognize. When you went under, you were bound for prison. Now the prisoners have all been released – at least ostensibly. There's just one catch. You're under continual surveillance. You're being watched and judged everywhere you go. The so-called freedom you enjoy is non-existent.

This is the intriguing and frightening premise of THE END OF MARKING TIME. The main character Michael has made a lifetime occupation of burglary and other types of property theft. He gets caught after selling the wrong credit card to the wrong man. As he's being taken to prison, a melee breaks out. Michael gets shot and lapses into a four-year coma. When he recovers, the world has completely changed. The Supreme Court has ruled that long-term prison sentences are "cruel and unusual punishment," striking them down as unconstitutional.

As a result, all prisoners are set free. This creates a, er, difficult situation, to say the least. With prisoners roaming wild, people are frightened. Things turn anarchic, until a new system is put into place. Michael wakes up after the new system is implemented and all the bugs are worked out – at least to the satisfaction of law-abiding citizens.

Michael has to learn to live with all the new rules. He's monitored constantly, his movements tracked by a chip implant and an ankle bracelet. The chip triggers an alarm at every commercial or public building he enters. Cameras watch his movements. He's free to move about, but stripped of his privacy.

Michael is what's referred to as a "relearner." These are criminals who have a shot at being trained to live by society's rules. And although Michael tries to learn his lessons and make sense of this brave new world, the situation is far more complicated than he can imagine. And he's in continual fear of being punished by being sent to the "catbaggers" (a group of unethical criminal reformists, purported to use extreme measures on the most hardened criminals).

The story is told by Michael himself to (we learn up front) an unseen jury. We know he's in trouble because he's run afoul of the rules to the new game he has to play.

C.J. West builds the tension and suspense, by showing you everything from Michael's point of view. In doing so, West also creates a lot of sympathy for the character. The world he describes is a benign dystopia, full of outwardly good intentions, but fraught with menace. The deeper Michael gets into predicaments, the more you worry about him from knowing how he ends up. So, the farther you get into the story, the more you'll want to keep reading.

To say more would probably risk spoilers. Although some of Michael's behavior seems inexplicable, it's probably consistent with a repeat offender (and one of life's losers). He seems to have two strikes against him from the start, by having to endure an abusive mother and an absent father.

THE END OF MARKING TIME takes a chilling and thought provoking look at punitive reform and will make you question whether this particular approach is really kinder and gentler.