The Reformatory

by Tananarive Due

don’t b’lieve in ‘evil’ in most ways,” Miz Lottie said. “I believe in the devil, all right, but man don’t need no help from Satan to do what folks call ‘evil.’ Man do evil ev’ry day and call it doin’ their job.

The Reformatory has a central villain, but the actual villain is a system of dehumanization.

“everyone would try to say that only the warden left mauled in the creek had created the unholy suffering at that place, when the whole town had had a hand.”