What is this blog about?

A few years ago, I read an article, just an average article about a crime and the perpetrator going to prison. I realized by the end of it, that the perpetrator was a very close friend of mine. Having been out of touch for a while, I didn't know what was going on in his life. I missed him though. And the news that he'd gone to jail didn't make that any easier. He was someone who helped me through a lot of hard times in my life. He helped me love myself in the aftermath of events that would have had a very different outcome without the kind of support I got from him. He was, and still is, very special to me.

I wanted to understand what he was facing in prison. I wanted to know what daily life was like, what dangers existed for him. I wanted to know all I could so I could understand a little, what he was going through.

So I looked for books on the subject. They were few and far between. As far as daily prison life goes, there are so few memoirs and real life experiences recorded. I found a handful, the first of which was You Got Nothing Coming: Notes from a Prison Fish by Jimmy Lerner. This book was an incredible introduction for me into the world behind bars. It made me seek out more and more to the point that now, I have an extensive collection of books on the topic of prison and related issues and I feel like i cannot read fast enough. But I try.

Before my friend went to prison, I never gave prison a second thought. It just wasn't something I paid much attention to. Now, through letters and phone calls from my friend, and the amount of reading I have done on the subject, I have become quite literally obsessed with prison issues. Most prominently wrongful convictions, the death penalty and the cost of calls from inmates. I am always reading articles about prison and constantly posting them to my facebook profile and my blog. So I thought I'd start a blog about prison instead.

Please, feel free to email me if you want to contribute to this blog as well.And go sign the petition to lower the cost of calls from prison: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/lower-the-cost-of-calls-from-prison

Technorati Tags: prison, blog, inmate, convict, incarcerated, incarceration, jail