| Title | : | A Day in Prison: An Insider's Guide to Life Behind Bars |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 178 |
| Publication | : | Published July 4, 2017 |
A Day in Prison shows what life is like for prisoners from morning roll call to lights out. It tracks the many ins and outs of prison culture and provides a comprehensive look into the dynamics that define inmates’ daily interactions with each other, prison guards, and prison administrators. It gives a full sense of the challenges—small and large—presented to inmates as they try to survive each day.
The book is structured like an actual day in prison, hour by hour, tracking where in the prison a prisoner would most likely be and what they would most likely be doing. It brings a clear sense of the unique environment that is a prison and makes sense of it for the reader, step-by-step. Based in the author’s own experience, being incarcerated for eleven years, it is as realistic a guide to life in prison as any reader could have.
A Day in Prison: An Insider's Guide to Life Behind Bars Reviews
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Kind of like the Lonely Planet Guide to Incarceration, what to do, the local language, food and culture! If you are up to no good and think that one day it might catch up with you, this is a good book for you. As the boy scouts say, Be Prepared! This is a book by a prison consultant (ex-con) going through the hours of the day, telling you how it is, and what you should and what you really, really shouldn't if you don't want to get beat up, transferred to a nasty place or have your probation application refused.
If you want to make real money from inside prison, the very best guide is
Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine, and South America's Strangest Jail where the author actually had a bed & breakfast and entry in Lonely Planet as 'unmissable' in prison in Bolivia.
Basically, he says, turn into a amiable loner. Abide by the rules, but if you see someone else not doing so, you didn't see it, you didn't hear it, you are never going to say anything about it. If you can't afford it, don't accept it as a gift, don't let yourself be beholden to anyone, you can't trust anyone.
Take any work and every class you are offered. Go to the library and read books, write letters. Read and write all you like, time will not go faster but books are your friends, and people are not. Everyone is out to get whatever they can, remember these are criminals, and the screws are just the other side of the coin.
When you come out you could do as the author has done, become a prison consultant, advising about-to-be-cons and their families on how to behave, what rights they have, what services they can avail themselves of. And if you put it into a book, it might sell well, and you will have no need to commit further crimes to get a reasonable income. And there is always hope. With luck, your book will become extremely successful and you will be invited on to Oprah, and you will be MADE!
(PS I hope the author makes it on to Oprah, he's a really nice guy.)
Reading notes The author got caught dealing cocaine back in the 80s, result 10 years incarceration. He has written a book on how to behave in prison for the newbie inmate structured around the the daily routine. It's very different from other prison books as it is literally this what you do/don't do and this is what happens. Basically do anything to avoid making someone think you disrespect them for any reason at all, stay in your racial group, take nothing and give nothing and never, ever argue with anyone at all. Should you fall foul of any of these instructions, the result is almost inevitably violence.
1 in 200 people in the US are/have been incarcerated, but it is 1 in 25 for Blacks (8 times more likely than Whites) and the fastest growing prison population is Black women, most for being involved in drug crimes. This can mean being the girlfriend of someone who has been convicted of dealing drugs (notice I didn't say guilty) and then being done for the presumed involvement. Because more Black women are poor and require benefits to maintain themselves and their children,they are likely to be involved in Social Services whose officers are under orders to look for drug crime. Hopefully the relaxing of laws on weed will address this situation to some extent.
Finished Dec 28 2021, reviewed Jan 12 2022 -
A Day In Prison is a book that covers an "insider's guide to life behind bars."
This was an informative / educational book about life in prison. I can see how this would be pretty helpful for osmeone about to serve time or those who ar ejust curious about the inner workings of prison.
the book was well-written. I'm not sure how much more I can say about the subject matter as i have zero experience with prison, haha. -
John Fuller describes himself as a prison consultant. I imagine this means he helps prepare newbies for the challenges of a prison sentence, helping prisoners survive the unique and dangerous lifestyle behind bars. There must be a market for such a business, as he points out that 200,000 people are locked up in the U.S. each year, and the total prison population is in the neighborhood of 2.3 million. Fuller’s book, “A Day in Prison: An Insider’s Guide to Life Behind Bars,” provides an in-depth description of a typical prison day, in addition to numerous tips on how to stay safe as an inmate.
Fuller draws on his 10 year experience in several federal prisons and county jails to list unwritten rules inmates live by. He offers practical advice on having conversations with other inmates, dealing with the commissary, phone calls, prison jobs, gangs, weapons, toilet etiquette, drugs, and visitation. His advice is for prisoners and families and provides a wealth of information that may make this strange and difficult journey a bit easier for all.
Some of the takeaways: trust no one, keep a neutral face and don’t make eye contact, don’t accept gifts or favors from other inmates, don’t snitch, stay away from gangs, read, take classes, and write. The experience is still sure to be nothing other than miserable, but this book will at least provide a preview of what to expect, as well as a way to avoid some of the mistakes that Fuller and others had made. The glossary will come in handy, and several pages of references are likely to lead to even more vital information and sources of support. -
I've never had "the prison experience" from either side, having never committed a crime nor had a close family member or friend do time. Feeling that what you see in videos and on TV is likely not reflective of what actually goes on behind bars, I decided to read this book.
Told from the perspective of a former prisoner who spent time in everything from county jail to federal prison, Mr. Fuller goes topic-by-topic through what a newly-incarcerated person can expect, as well as their friends and family members, from their first trip through the sally port to the trip back out—assuming the person doesn't have a life sentence or a death sentence.
This book might also be an enlightening tool for those who might be considering committing a crime. Perhaps if more understood the consequences of criminal activity, fewer would find themselves behind bars and forced into situations they never considered they would find themselves in. -
OK so why would someone want to know what goes on in prison? Well if you are headed there this book would be useful. Thankfully I am not and never intend to be. But I was curious enough to see what it can be like.
John Fuller, the author seemed to have plenty of experience but he did not elaborate on what got him there. He did however deliver a vast store of advice and protocol that one would be wise to heed, if indeed headed there. It doesn't look like an appealing existence and it made me wonder about the repeat offenders who call it home, and why.
I'm not sure how much the penal system does to reform people but it certainly is a place one would learn the rules while from other inmates and in fast order.
An interesting look at life from the inside and for outsiders to take heed. -
Good but short
A behind-the-scenes look at what prison life is like, from the perspective of a former inmate. From not getting into trouble with other inmates, to navigating visitation (among other things) this book is fairly expansive. If I had a complaint, it would be that it was too short. -
An excellent primer explaining the dos and don’t of prison life. Written in an easy to follow fashion that provided all I needed to know in case I ever wind up in the slammer. Prisoners are code-driven and expect you to follow the golden rule. I appreciated the side stories that illustrated the author’s personal experiences.
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I work in the federal prison system. I just read this out of curiosity. It wasn't inaccurate, but it was geared toward inmates being sent to low level institutions. I wasn't meant to be a guideline for people sent to high level prisons, like the one I work in.
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Review pending
