The sorrowful account of the juvenile "justice" system in The Nickel Boys

Colson Whitehead’s 2019 novel, The Nickel Boys, is a terrifying and sorrowful account about the system of juvenile “justice” in Floriday in the early 20^th century under which the unwanted and unruly youth, sometimes those accused/convicted of petty crimes though just as often boys and young men in state “care” w/ nowhere else to go, were sent to the Nickel school, basically a work farm to house, punish, and exploit the young men. The school, like all others in Florida in that era, was strictly segregated, with the black “boys” getting far worse conditions, treatment, and opportunities – though the entire school was exploited and pillaged in return for various political favors and kickbacks. The novel – I’m about half-way through – focuses on on young man, Ellwood, convicted of car theft (he’d hitched a ride and the driver turned out to be driving a hot car) and sent off to Nickel without a thought for his well-being; he’s highly intelligent and had plans to take college courses during his senior year of h.s.; sent to Nickel, where he is abused and mistreated (no worse than any of the others, however), his hopes are dashed, and we follow him through his torment and evolution. The novel has the usual front-of-the-book disclaimer that this is a work of fiction, etc., but it’s obvious that it’s a near-documentary; apparently there is much about the “real” Nickel and about Elwood online, which I will look at after I finish reading this novel, which has just been honored w/ a Pulitzer Prize for fiction.