Behind Bars: Surviving Prison

by Jeffrey Ian Ross

Book Overview

A judge hands down a stretch in a local, state, or federal prison. It's time for some serious life lessons. With the crime rates soaring in the United States and the prison population growing faster... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0028643518
• ISBN13: 9780028643519
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Alpha Books
• Length: 219 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Nancy Poon University of Saskatchewan

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

a must read for students and lay persons alike

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.

Prison analysis from the inside

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.

How Your Prison Dollars Are Being Spent

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.

Do Not Think This Book Will Never Apply To You

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 o