Table of Contents

SECTION I: DOING CRIME; SECTION II: REHABILITATION; SECTION III: FINDING FAITH; SECTION IV: BEING IMPRISONED; SECTION V: LIVING IN PRISON; SECTION VI: JUSTICE AND INJUSTICE

Reviews

Two criminology professors have allowed several dozen inmates at correctional facilities across the country to vent their feelings about their crimes and subsequent punishment. Although the inmates' writing style is mediocre, their extensive autobiographical writing may make the book appealing to readers who are curious about life on the inside or who have never read Jack Henry Abbott's In the Belly of the Beast (LJ 6/1/81). Each section is interspersed with unfortunately disappointing commentary by Johnson (American Univ.) and Toch (SUNY at Albany). They talk about the connection between poverty and crime, the racial imbalance of the inmates, and the lust for vengeance, but their observations, though valid, have been made before. This book would have been more timely had the editors focused on the trend toward longer sentences, the virtual end of the parole system, or the number of men and women on death row in this country. Recommended only for large crime collections.ÄFrances O. Sandiford, Green Haven Correction. Facility Lib., Stormville, NY Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.