Featured Book: You Got Nothing Coming

So, Sunday Sites are out because I am now single parenting my son for a couple of months while his father sets life up for us in Canada and blogging with a baby boy who literally just learned to walk last night, is just not in the cards. Not enough hands! or eyes.

With that said, I want to start a new weekly thing about books. Any books on the topic of prison will do, so if you have any suggestions, please feel free to email me at vlu777@gmail.com - also, would love to get some reviews by other people as well. Guest blogging anyone?

My first book in this series is the first book I ever read about prison. I sought out books on the topic of prison because I had just learned my very good friend was locked up for 9 years in Ohio. When the shock subsided, I realized I knew bleep all about prison, had never even really given it any thought whatsoever. So I went on the hunt for books about it and the very first book I found was called You Got Nothing Coming: Notes From a Prison Fish by Jimmy Lerner.

This book is about a man, Jimmy Lerner, who was locked up in the Nevada State Prison system for manslaughter. It is written humorously which was perfect for the state of mind I was in which was absolute horror that my friend was experiencing these things. But Jimmy gave it a sarcastic lightheartedness. I loved, also, the fact that the book was about prison, not crime. His crime is explained later in the book, but the book is primarily about prison life and what it's like to be a Jew locked in a cell with a giant, ripped skinhead named Kansas, who has a swastika tattoo.

After I finished reading this book, I contacted the author, and much to my surprise, he contacted me back. Thus begun a year or so of emailing back and forth, long, sarcastic, hilarious emails to one another and I eventually had the honor of designing his web site. His web site has since been taken down, but can still be seen at the Internet Archive: Click here.

After his book was released, Jimmy Lerner faced a few legal issues regarding the Son of Sam law which basically states that no convicted criminal should be able to profit off of his crimes. This law was enacted when David "Son of Sam" Burkowitz wrote a book about being the Son of Sam. Jimmy was sued by the sister of the victim of his crime, under Nevada's Son of Sam law. The court found that the Son of Sam law was unconstitutional and the case was dismissed.

While I was designing Jimmy's web site, he was asked by the Prisons Foundation to sit on their board alongside Howard Zinn, one of my favorite authors who penned A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present (P.S.).

Jimmy and I lost touch as my business got busier, but recently someone looking for Jimmy contacted me and said they'd heard he was dead. I saw this on Wikipedia as well. I tried to email him and didn't get a response, so if anyone knows anything about whether or not he has passed, let me know at the email address above.

Further resources:
The Talented Mr. Lerner - New York Times

Diary of a Prison Fish - Newsreview


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