Customer Reviews

BEHIND BARS: Surviving Prison

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1 star:		(5)

 

 

The chapters on how to survive prison are decent, but I believe that after the authors finished writing them, they realized that they had only about 100 pages and they needed to plump the book out. Unfortunately, rather than delving deeper into the promised subject matter -- I would have liked to read excepts from interviews with former inmates, and anecdotes about mistakes they made in prison or how they prevailed in bad situations -- the authors added sections decrying the U.S. penal and legal system and the war on drugs and, most egregiously, dispensing often incorrect or misleading legal advice.

I am a criminal defense attorney. One of the biggest problems I have with the book is the reckless advice that a defendant should generally not plea guilty and rather take the case through trial. There's a good reason that over 90% of defendants plead guilty, whether their lawyers are retained or appointed, and it's not because those lawyers coerced them into doing so. It's because the rise of sentencing guidelines and mandatory minimums have made it Russian roulette for many felony defendants to go to trial. At least where I practice, many plea offers can save defendants significant jail time compared with a trial conviction. Look, I love to try cases, and it's great to get a client with a decent case and the willingness to fight it all the way, but taking a loser case to trial is usually a colossal mistake for the defendant, one which can cost them years. The book's broad claim that it's generally better to go to trial is no substitute for a skilled and honest lawyer's individualized assessment of the strength of a case and the risks of a trial verdict.

There are also preposterous claims in the book about the legal system, such as that if marijuana is found in a car and one of the car's occupants previously pled guilty to a crime while the other occupant was convicted of a crime after trial, then the marijuana will be pinned on the person who pled because the prosecutors feel it'll be an easier conviction since the guy will presumably just roll over again. That's ridiculous -- in fact, both will be charged with the weed. The authors also claim, erroneously, that defense lawyers owe their allegiance to the legal system at the expense of their clients. That is the type of misstatement which breeds a mistrust of defense attorneys, and that can hurt defendants if it causes them to disregard good advice from their attorneys. The authors do better when they stick to what they know -- how life is in prison -- rather than speculating on how the legal system works.

The authors also try a little too hard to make their case that the criminal justice system is blatantly rigged, and it comes off like propaganda. I am someone whose professional experience has made him wary of the criminal justice system and acutely aware of the disproportionate power of prosecutors and police, but when the authors start claiming that police may be paying informants with narcotics, I become skeptical about whatever the book claims as fact. Look -- there's enough wrong with the laws and the criminal justice system that an author doesn't need to make the system appear to be an overt, sinister compact between judges, prosecutors, cops and defense attorneys to railroad people.

The book places an undue emphasis on the minority of cases which involve conspiracy convictions, prosecutions for selling fake drugs to undercovers (so rare!), cooperation agreements, and no-knock home raids. Little misleading comments, such that there are people in federal prison for merely failing to repay their student loans, detract from the book's credibility. The authors try too hard to sell the reader on the injustice of it all, but they really don't need to clobber the reader over the head with dubious and paranoid claims. The real problems with the system are inflammatory enough!

That said, the middle section of the book regarding prison life is instructive, and I assume it's not as misinformed as the earlier section but rather founded on personal experience and solid research. If you're going to jail, this is a useful book, but skip the first few chapters and be skeptical of the information outside of the authors' area of expertise.

Most Americans are blissfully unaware of the massive prison complex that surrounds them in America. Unless they have themselves had the misfortune to get caught up in the maw of our criminal justice system or have a close family member who has, they generally have no idea of how our systems of prisons are operated. Many of them have the notion that prison inmates loll around on their bunks all day watching TV or while away their days lazily shooting baskets out in the prison yard. Reading this book, co-written by one who has actually served some substantial prison time, will quickly disabuse them of those notions.

Prisons today are essentially warehouses where inmates are shuffled from place to place like cattle. You will learn how at any given time, there are a hundred or more buses transporting prisoners from one prison to another all over the country and that some prisons actually have their own airports, at least one of them capable of receiving commercial jets! There are now nearly 2 million people incarcerated in jails and prisons across American and nearly twice that many if you include those on parole or probation.

This is a no-nonsense book that give you the low-down on the prison system in America today and how to survive within it. For those who may feel that this book will never apply to them, don't be so sure. The United States is now one of the most tightly regulated and policed nations in the world. There are so many laws on the books these days that even lawyers and judges can't figure them all out. It is not as hard for a law-abiding citizen to unwittingly run afoul of the law as one may believe. Have a couple of drinks at dinner and have the misfortune to have a car wreck that results in fatalities - or hit a pedestrian - and you will likely serve some time in prison for manslaughter. If your neighbor decides to grow some marijuana plants in the back corner of your property, it is YOU who will likely have your property seized and a stiff mandatory prison sentence will be meted out to YOU and not your neighbor, unless you can afford a good lawyer to prove otherwise. With all the laws on the books these days, the possibilities are virtually endless. That is why this book should be read by all. For it is indeed possible that even a non-violent, law-abiding citizen such as yourself may someday land in jail or prison.

The authors of this book do not have a political agenda, like most other books on this subject. They do not take the side of the inmates nor do they seem to have a vendetta against those who run our prison system. They simply discuss life in prison as it exists today and they provide very practical and sound advice for those who must enter into it.

What I found most disturbing about this book was that our prison system is doing virtually nothing to rehabilitate prisoners and to prepare them for their re-entry into civilization. Inmates seeking to serve their time and better themselves so that they can start a new life outside the prison walls are frustrated at every turn. Education inside the prison walls are barely tolerated and even frowned upon by prison authorities, who fear loss of control (when inmates get educated and can, for example, write intelligent letters to the media about prison conditions). Inmates must deal with hostility and indifference and must learn to survive in a brutal atmosphere where at any time, they could get "shanked" by a fellow inmate or "thrown into the hole" for simply trying to defend themselves. One of the great tragedies is when a first-time prisoner serving a short sentence for some non-violent crime such as marijauna possession is victimized so badly by his fellow inmates that he is forced to defend himself or join a prison gang for protection. If he should kill one of his tormentors, his 3-5 year sentence has now been converted to life. If he befriends the prison gang, he begins to hang with hardcore criminals and his chances of staying out of prison once he gets out is greatly reduced.

I'm no bleeding heart liberal. Prisons should not be fun places to be. Anybody leaving the prison system should never want to go back there again. But I do believe that our prison inmates should be prepared to lead productive lives when they are released from prison. Otherwise, they will have no choice but to link up with the bad elements that got them into prison in the first place. Putting released inmates on a Greyhound bus with a cardboard box and a $5 bill is insane. Might as well just install revolving doors on those prisons.

Prison is a mean ugly horrible place. The rules are all subjective until someone wants them to be otherwise. Prison is about politics not justice in America. Prison is about so much more than just what what happens in the court room.

There is NO book that can teach you to survive in prision because, life in prison is never a static picture. Prison life is just that LIFE. The minute you take an physical or intellectual snapshot of a living thing it changes in the next instant. The whole deal about surviving in prison is being able to adapt to change. Prison is an environment whose constantly changing factors are designed to keep newbie's and punks off guard. Prisons are run by the convicts with the help of the officers in ways designed to maintain many differing constantly shifting balances of power.

In prison Alliances needs passions angers and the power that goes with them are in constant play shifting ebbing and flowing to meet the needs of the moment. Survival in prison is all about making sure you know what the next game is BEFORE IT IS PLAYED by the officers or inmates. Each prison has its own heartbeat, culture and niches' that no one book could ever prepare you for. Simplistic answers to complex problems like to avoid rape fight for all you are worth in prison is stupid. Yes fighting will delay a rape but fighting alone is just posponing a rape in prison.

Surviving in prison is about fighting but also includes using your cunning to situate yourself in ways that give others reason not to see you hurt. Sometimes surviving prison is about being more brutal, cold hearted or creul than others. Smart people with skills can sometimes survive because, if you can write great legal breifs or have other other legal skills valued in prison you can work it to your advantage so you have protectors.

Develop non-sexual skills that help those with power in prison so they help you in return. Help strong respected inmates who have nothing but personal protection to offer you in return write, draw, learn to read or achieve some other life goal they want for themselves. I guess what I am saying is their is no one cut and dry way of surviving prison. What you must do to survive prison is learn to see opportunities that allow you to survive without being turned out before anyone else sees and takes advantage of them.

Funny as it seems there are some inmates who are tired of the stupidity of prison and they would protect from all harm someone who is teaching them. Prison is about learning how to see and exploit every opportunity to survive you can identify before it is detected by your fellow inmates or destroyed by prison staff \ administration. No book can teach you how to survive prison because surviving prison part instinct, part psychology, part bluff, part bare handed fight and part a sadistic will to do whatever it takes to survive. A book that hopes to teach you how to survive prison is obsolete the minute the words are written because, prison life changes in real time.

In prison you can get your head kicked in for just being unimaginative with your game because, if your game is lame it is considered a disrespectful insult to those you are trying to run it on and that can lead to a brutal fight. Read the book for fun and background but don't expect any book to prepare you for survival in prison because no matter how good a book is, prison life is so much more hellish and real than even the best intentioned man's words can convey.

Surviving prison has to be done in a way that conveys your own style because trying to follow a books advice on surviving prison is like thinking living in prison is a recipe you can copy. Surviving in prison is no recipe it must become part of who you are on the deepest levels of your psyche and soul because it it is not you will be beat down for being fake, not real. See if you think a book will prepare you for prison life you will be up hells creek without a paddle when that book runs out of ideas. This book will not have the right solution for every issue you will face in prison life. The book can not supply dynamic solutions and problems in prison are the most dynamic you will ever face because, change from moment to moment is how convicts and officers keep you off guard and ready to be used and exploited. Real inmates don't need no book to survive prison and that will be your down fall that will tell on you.

Use the book to get in touch with the person you are on the level of the most real and prepare that person for prison situations you see in this book. First rule of survival in prison is keep it real, if you can really fight fight, if you can really con then con, if you can exploit then do it but be true to your skills. There is no such thing as fair in prison anything that allows you to survive another minute in prison is as an intact man is always fair. Your job in prison is to survive by fighting to be and stay real without BS about your life and your dealings with others. See everything and say nothing. Never snicth and sometimes to avoid more beatings by knowing when to take a beating prison is filled with complicated decisions that no single book can ever deal with fully. Thats the problem with this book it answers questions but not in the detailed ways that take into considerations all the complexities of prison life.

You are a fool if you think prison inmates are not smart. Convicts are some of the smartest people alive they are in prison because they chose to employ their vast skills to antisocial tasks. No one single book will ever explain the complex nature of surviving prison life so read the book for insight but don't go inside thinking you KNOW prison life because this book could make you just smart enough to make dumb mistakes prison might not decide to forgive.

Criminologists Drs. Ross and Richards (respectively, a former guard and a former federal inmate) provide a cogent and accessible look at the brutal reality that is our criminal justice system. Their humanistic and jargon-free coverage of what it's like to be taken into custody, processed and incarcerated is a refreshing departure from the stale, emotionally distant (and of often apologetic) coverage that has sadly become the standard fare in the academic coverage of the correctional system. Located both in the world of experiential closeness and scholarly rigour, Ross and Richards expose the harshness and inhumanity inherent in America's incarceration industry. - Finally, something that I can comfortably fit between Sykes' "Society of Captives" and Irwin and Austin's "It's About Time" on my book shelf. Interested in what life in prison is like? Turn off Oz, and open up BEHIND BARS.

Based on both authors' personal experiences, one an ex-convict, the other a former correctional officer, as well as conversations with other ex-convicts, Behind Bars is a no- nonsense quick tour of what one can expect if you go to jail or prison in the United States. This book, divided into four sections, is easily accessible and easily readable and is meant for a generalist audience, particularly those novitiates wanting initial "insider" information on the American prison system.

The first section, "You're Arrested," is about what can get a person into trouble and how to avoid getting into further trouble if you are arrested. Things to avoid include, among other things, resisting arrest, giving up your right to remain silent and retaining an attorney. The authors also offer cursory explanations about why these things should be minded. The authors stress two important points at this juncture, that one should be wary of the criminal justice system and how it works. Ross and Richards point to, among other things, entrapment or burn laws, take downs, and sting operations (explaining each along the way) to make their case. Second, as an important qualifier, the authors point out that neither are all arrested folk innocent, nor are all law enforcement people evil. This latter point is a recurring theme throughout this volume.

The second section, "You've Got Jail!," in two chapters, is about the United States prison system including private prisons, and offender and guard characteristics and classifications. A cursory description is also offered of the differences between State and Federal prisons in terms of general conditions, size, resources and levels of security. Unclear to this reader, however, is whether offender needs are ever considered when handing down security classifications and/or prison placements. Despite this ambiguity, we learn that offenders primarily male, half of whom are white, are further categorised in terms of management issues-protection from others (inmates or otherwise), their publicity profile, level of criminal organisation, or disruptiveness. But, as the authors point out, a more meaningful categorisation might be to examine offenders' levels of experience in prison. The authors are unclear, however, as to why, or how, this second categorisation might be more meaningful.

Section Three, "Doing Time," in seven chapters, takes the reader through what can be expected during their time inside including the formal and informal admissions process, the formal and informal economies, employment and education prospects in prison, and the why's and how's of minimising "trouble" in prison. These include how to: (1) cultivate "trouble free" friendships; (2) avoid debt; (3) do time in solitary confinement; (4) avoid unsolicited homosexual advances; (5) eat healthily in prison (6) minimising involvement in prison disturbances and gang violence, and finally, (7) how to make "productive" use of time inside. The final chapter in this section briefly deals with women behind bars, noting that women take different paths to prison than do men and that there are fewer women behind bars than men. The authors point out that the reasons for this result from differences social location, i.e., differences in both economic status (in that women have less earning potential than men) and gender role with regards to familial responsibility (in that women generally are the primary caregivers for young children). Moreover, women do their time differently than men (where women are more likely to form pseudo families with corresponding obligations and responsibilities). While true, this chapter does not even begin to delve into the substantial differences between how women and men do time. For example, women are more likely to self-injure inside, suffer different kinds of emotional trauma, have longer histories of drug and alcohol addictions, have longer histories of sexual and physical abuse than do men, and are the primary caregivers to young children more often than men. These issues have far reaching implications for how women do their time.

The final section, "Beyond the Walls," briefly offers descriptions of different types of community corrections or aftercare operating, once you leave prison. The authors also provisionally describe some barriers to reintegration including disorientation, institutionalisation, employment prospects, reconnecting with loved ones and the lure of the criminal lifestyle as an easy way to deal with the barriers. In the concluding chapter, the authors not only state that it takes humility and patience to psychically survive prison, more so than physical stamina, but they also make some cursory recommendations as to how to stop the revolving door to prison.

A short compendium of slammer slang and prison reform groups comprise the two appendices. Despite the brief treatment of what is arguably a very complex social institution, this book is well written and useful for those who want a brief introductory tour through American jails and prisons.

This book will open your eyes to the realities of the criminal justice and correctional systems. I never realized the extent of the psychological damage that can be inflicted during prison time through despair, loneliness, and extreme boredom. I had always thought more about the violent aspects of prison life, but was unaware of the psychological devastation that can be wreaked, initially by the weight of the criminal justice system being brought down to bear on you, and then prison life itself.

This book makes one think about whether or not we actually live in a country where people are given a fair shot at defending themselves. The answer for these authors seems to be no. In fact, as the book reveals, the whole criminal justice system is replete with viciously unfair catch-22's that seem to make it next to impossible for even an innocent man to beat a conviction and ever return to society (if at all) healthy, psychologically whole, and with any sort of financial future whatsoever. Given the fact that--as the authors state--the majority of convicts are nonviolent drug offenders, the whole prison system largely seems to be an absurd, cruel nightmare

This book is not just for those going to prison but for every taxpayer. We spend $25,000 a year per person on prisons. For that money, we make people WORSE. When they get out, ex-cons are going be somebody's neighbor. You'd think we'd want to help people become better.

This is a fascinating, well written book about the insanity of prison life.

All citizens should read it.

Make no mistake; Behind Bars is written for cons, and by cons. Because of this, the reader can be certain that the information contained in this text is not glossed-over, heavy-on-the-big-words academic pretense written from inside an office. Drs. Ross and Richards offer this book as both an analysis and a precaution. Step-by-step advice from the moment of arrest to months after release that refuses to ignore the physical and mental/emotional problems modern American correctional facilities provide. There is nothing resembling coddling in prison, and there is nothing within this book that will attempt to coddle the reader. Rather, the fact that fifty percent of federal convicts return to prison in under a year after initial release is constantly beaten into the head of the reader. However, Ross and Richards do present methods of proper social interaction among cons, with guards and other personnel, who to trust and not trust, etc. If, as an individual, you so much as know of any illegal activity, you are liable to serve jail and/or prison time. No one is innocent, and no one should be so smug as to think their life experiences could never include those mentioned in this book.

This book does not pull any punches about prison life. Advice is freely given and some of it may be disturbing. For example, the authors clearly state that you WILL have to fight in order to survive behind bars. If for no reason other than to show others that you cannot be "turned out" or be made a victim. As an attorney who has toiled in the criminal justice system (both as a defense atty and as a prosecutor), I was moved by the book's honesty, compassion, and accounts of prison life. There are sections dealing with corrupt guards, gangs, drugs, sex, money, etc. Nothing is left out. This book should be required reading for all those who advocate "tough on crime" as this read clearly demostrates that prison is a brutal and unforgiving experience.

I read this book out of curiousity, and found practical information. The authors not only tell you how it is in prison, but they also explain why. When you hear of something happening in prison, you never hear the full story. These guys tell you everyone's side of the story, and the full ugly truth about prison life. They explain why the guards let some fights happen, how a guard can make your life hell how without even touching you (tearing up your mail, taking your clothes, etc), they also explain how most cons bribe or blackmail guards (have an outsider find out where the guard lives, snap a pic of wife or kids, mail to con) and why sometimes guards let fights happen and look the other way so to speak.