One Day in the Life of 179212: Notes from an American Prison

By Jens Soering

Book Overview

To a correctional facility in Virginia he is known as Prisoner 179212. But to a legion of journalists and legal reform activists he is Jens Soering, a German citizen who has endured for the past twenty-six years the harshest and most unforgiving punishment this country can offer--a life sentence without realistic hope of release, which some refer to as "the other death penalty." Told with dry humor, One Day in the Life of 179212 provides an hour-by-hour survey of everyday life in an American medium-security facility with all of its attendant hardships, contradictions, and even revelations. Soering poignantly illustrates the importance of meditation and faith when confronted with extreme adversity, in addition to making a highly compelling case for prison reform. Although this inspiring, eloquent memoir recounts just a day in the life of one man, much like Alexander Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, it provides a powerful voice for the over two million men and women lost in the maze of America's prison-industrial complex.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 159056345X
• ISBN13: 9781590563458
• Release Date: April 2012
• Publisher: Lantern Publishing & Media
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.1" x 7.9"