10 books about prison life

Have you ever been at the end of your rope? Have you ever felt the bottom fall out of your life? Have you ever felt completely and utterly hopeless? Have you ever felt rejected by this world sometimes even by the very people who are supposed to love you? Have you ever done something so horrible that the biggest punishment there seems to be is simply having to live with the knowledge that you did it? Have you ever wondered what s the point of this confusing and often painful life? If you u answered yes to any of these, YOU ARE NOT ALONE. So did Louis Dooley. This is his story. It will resonate with you, make you uncomfortable, shock you, make you laugh and cry, but in the end it will give you hope. --

A guide to assist ex-convicts in making a successful return to society discusses how to begin preparing while still in prison, finding a job, and avoiding drugs and illicit activities that could result in a return to prison.

Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Best Nonfiction

"The Master Plan is less of a road map and more of a philosophy that we should all take to heart: We are all better than our worst decision, our sense of justice should honor the redemptive possibilities inherent in every person, and our destinies are truly intertwined."--Wes Moore, author of The Other Wes Moore Growing up in Washington, DC, Chris Wilson was surrounded by violence and despair. He watched his family and neighborhood shattered by trauma, and he lost his faith. One night when he was seventeen, defending himself, he killed a man. He was sentenced to life in prison with no hope of parole. But what should have been the end of his story became the beginning. Behind bars, Wilson embarked on a remarkable journey of self-improvement--reading, working out, learning languages, even starting a business. At nineteen, he sat down and wrote a list of all the things he intended to accomplish, and all the steps he'd have to take to get there. He called it his Master Plan. He revised that plan regularly and followed it religiously. Sixteen years later, it led him to an unlikely opportunity--and to a promise he has been working hard to live up to every day since. Harrowing, heartbreaking, and ultimately triumphant, The Master Plan is a memoir for this moment, proving that every person is capable of doing great things.

There are more people incarcerated in the world today than at any other time in history. Every year millions of prisoners are released back into society after having completed their sentences, with the majority of them returning to prison within just a short time after their release. The Dedicated Ex-Prisoner's Guide to Life and Success on the Outside is a 10-rule guidebook for the ex-prisoner who is determined to be successful once released and offers invaluable information on how to overcome the odds of returning to prison. If followed, the advice and suggestions offered in this guide will prove very helpful to all ex-prisoners who are serious about getting out of prison and not ever going back.

At 2.26 million, incarcerated Americans not only outnumber the nation’s fourth-largest city, they make up a national constituency bound by a shared condition. Fourth City: Essays from the Prison in America presents more than seventy essays from twenty-seven states, written by incarcerated Americans chronicling their experience inside. In essays as moving as they are eloquent, the authors speak out against a national prison complex that fails so badly at the task of rehabilitation that 60% of the 650,000 Americans released each year return to prison. These essays document the authors’ efforts at self-help, the institutional resistance such efforts meet at nearly every turn, and the impact, in money and lives, that this resistance has on the public. Directly confronting the images of prisons and prisoners manufactured by popular media, so-called reality TV, and for-profit local and national news sources, Fourth City recognizes American prisoners as our primary, frontline witnesses to the dysfunction of the largest prison system on earth. Filled with deeply personal stories of coping, survival, resistance, and transformation, Fourth City should be read by every American who believes that law should achieve order in the cause of justice rather than at its cost.

The author profiles five hard-core criminals, the new warden, numerous officers, guards, the staff, and others from Leavenworth Prison.

In life, it's not how you start that matters. It's how you finish. In the 1980s Shaka Senghor was an honor roll student and dreamed of becoming a doctor. In 1991 he was sent to prison for second-degree murder. During his 19-year incarceration, seven of which were spent in solitary confinement, Senghor discovered literature, meditation, and self-examination. He used these tools to confront the demons of his past, forgive the people who hurt him, and begin atoning for the wrongs he had committed. At his release at age 38 he became an activist and mentor to young men and women facing circumstances like his.

The Shot Caller is a gritty memoir reminiscent of the international bestseller The Cross and the Switchblade.