Based on Episode 501 of This American Life, this book explores the unending cycles of the drug war. The cyclical format  aims to convey the sense of confinement that one who is part of the system may feel. Each page contains a part of the three main cycles in the form of words and commentary by various characters. Objects that are intermittently placed throughout the cycle and their narratives allude to life “outside,” such as things that could’ve been or that never will be. There is no beginning or end, no specific entrance and no exit. We can enter the cycle at any point, and once we do, it takes us around and around forever.

The first cycle is that of prisoners trapped in the system, always heading back into prison because of the lack of opportunities. Then there is the cycle of administrators who carry out their robotic jobs of finding people to put in prisons. Finally, there is the cycle of fear-induced discrimination that results in even more fear and discrimination.

Each of the pages shows a segment of the three cycles using a different weight of the Akzidenz Grotesk typeface. The typographic treatment caters to the moods of the passages themselves.