Customer Reviews

About Prison (Wadsworth Contemporary Issues in Crime and Justice)

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"Prisoners advance themselves in the social hierarchy in ways that are totally incongrous with outside society. Concepts like integrity, Michael Santos writes in his in depth and analytical look into prison life and it's culture. And Michael Santos isn't some criminology professor who never stepped foot inside an institution without a cadre of guards escourting him. Michael Santos is a convicted felon who has served 17 calendar years to date and who will not be released until 2013. So he knows what he's talking about as he's been incarcerated at USP Atlanta, FCI McKean, FCI Fort Dix and not FPC Florence.

His book is a tru look into the dangerous and grimy world of prison through an academics eye for detail and retrospection.
With a Masters degree in criminology Michael has educated himself while immersed in the belly of the beast. He is the most qualified person in America to write a book about prison having been confined and lived in prison for most of his adult life while pursuing his studies and overcoming all the obstacles thrown in his way due to his dwelling in America's gulags. The book covers all aspects of prison life from entry to the underground economy to the twisted ideals to the pitfalls one can encounter in the depths of America's prison industrial complex. An intriguing and fascinating look into the federal Bureau of Prisons which exists in it's own alternate reality so different from the real world and society in which most people live. So come and take a journey into the netherworld of corruption and violence which many Americans call home.

I loved this book. Santos should be writing for the Sopranos. The characters he presents are that brutal and that funny. Here is one example of a prisoner, "Lunatic," describing his treatment in the Pelican Bay Supermax prison (from page #46 of Inside):

"Shee-it," Lunatic told me. "Hog-tyin' ain't the worst thing they do to a muthafu_ka. Them crackas strapped me down in a four post. I told one of them bitc_es to s_ck my di_k. Next thing I know they spreadin' a nigga out like Jesus, lockin' my arms and legs to one of them posts on each co'ner of the concrete rack. I'm lyin facedown, naked, pissin and shi_tin myself from the mo'nin' to the night shift. It's fu-ked up."

Santos also goes on to tell funny stories about female Bureau of Prison (BOP) employees that sell their bodies for money to various inmates. In all, Inside is great entertainment. Although Santos very much wants his readers to believe that prisons should offer inmates a way to earn their release from prison early, I am sure the average reader will walk away from this book with exactly the opposite feeling. Almost every character Santos presents in this book is incorrigible and belongs in prison for a very long time.

Keep writing, Mike, but remember there are some types of broke you just can't fix.