Life without parole: living in prison today

About this book

Foreword / by John Irwin

About the author

About the editors

Acknowledgments

"Prison," a poem / by Robert Johnson

Prison life

How I became a convict

Things missed

Playing the opposites

Prison violence

The underground economy

Prison politics

Race relations in prison

Saying goodbye

Interviews

Anatomy of a false confession

David: a sexual victim

Chaser: a medication addict

Toney: an AIDS tragedy

Albert Brown: a permanent resident

Jacko: surviving the hole

Coach: a changeling

The dancing man

Scenes from a prison

Interview with Judge Richard J. Nygaard

Op-ed

Prison overcrowding

Mr. Smith goes to Harrisburg

Prison rape

Inmates and officers

In search of the convict code

A hitchhiker's guide to prisons, part I: A study in fear

A hitchhiker's guide to prisons, part II: The big house: what goes 'round comes 'round

A hitchhiker's guide to prisons, part III: The contemporary prison: yesterday, today, and tomorrow

Conclusion: the runaway train

Afterword: prisons and prison reform: Hassine's book in perspective / Robert Johnson and Ania Dobrzanska

Appendices

Appendix A: A state tries to rein in a prison awash in drugs / Matthew Purdy

Appendix B: Struggle to survive: view from behind bars / Julia Cass.