Jack Gantos Life In Prison

“What I Learned as a Kid in Jail” is a speech given at a TEDTalk convention to a group of young men and women delivered by Ismael Nazario, a prison reform advocate where he does work for The Fortune Society, a non profit organization. Nazario was arrested when he was just under eighteen for robbery and sent directly to Rikers Island where he spent 300 days in solitary confinement, before ever being convicted of the crime. Nazario’s goal in delivering his speech to a group of younger men and women is to make them aware of the way correctional officers treat younger inmates and how inmates should be spending their time doing productive activities and understanding they do not have to go back to the life they were living. Nazario accomplished this goal by sharing personal stories from his past experiences.

Newjack is Ted Conover’s personal memoir as a correctional officer in one of New York’s famous maximum security prisons: Sing Sing. The job of a correctional officer consists of long days locking and unlocking cells, moving prisoners to and from various locations while the prisoners beg, aggravate and abuse them. After a short time at the academy and a brief period of on-the-job training, Conover found himself working, often alone and always unarmed, in galleries housing sixty or more inmates. He heard of many stories that happen in prison. Stories include inmates beating inmates and burning their cell house, an inmate who was beaten by correctional officers after striking an officer in the head with a broom

Hollandsworth engages inside the minds of readers by establishing a base of knowledge of the unjust criminal sentencing Edwin was given. throughout the article “The Prisoner”, Edwin is portrayed as a cold-blooded killer who deserves to be locked up with no way of receiving a second chance at life. Hollandsworth concluded that Edwin is not the only twelve-year-old to be sentenced to a state prison as a juvenile, “According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, of the 140,000 inmates now housed in its prisons, approximately 2,000 are there for crimes that they committed as juveniles, which state law defines as anyone under the age of seventeen. Nearly a hundred of those inmates committed their crimes when they were only eleven, twelve, or thirteen years old” (Para 2). Edwin is also one of the youngest inmates to be sentenced to such a long and unimaginable verdict, “Of that group, only two have served more time than Edwin. “I’m considered the bad seed, the worst of the worst, all because of one stupid, terrible thing I did when I was twelve,” (Para 2). Edwin shows remorse and regret for his actions but still cannot seem to find a way to change the minds of his peers, “Why can’t people understand I’m not that twelve-year-old boy anymore? Why can’t I be given a second chance?” (Para 2). Edwin and his

Ted Conover’s book, New Jack, is about the author's experiences as a rookie guard at Sing Sing prison, in New York, the most troubled maximum security prison. He comes to realize that being a correctional officer isn’t an easy task. This is shown from the beginning when he is required to attend a 7 week training program to become a correctional officer. He comes to realize what inmates have to endure on a daily basis. Throughout his experience into a harsh culture of prison and the exhausting and poor working conditions for officers, he begins to realize that the prison system brutalizes everyone connected to it. New Jack presents new ideas of prisons in the United States in the ways facilities, corrections officers, and inmates function with

It is an unfortunate fact that thousands of military soldiers, both combat and noncombat veterans, find their way into America’s prison and jail systems. Of these incarcerated veterans, nearly half fought in the Vietnam War (Bronson, et. al.). Andrew Brannan was no exception to this. A decorated Vietnam veteran who suffered from severe post-traumatic-stress disorder and bipolar disorder, Brannan was sentenced to Georgia’s death row for the murder of police officer Kyle Dinkheller. The implications of the trials that followed and Brannan’s ultimate demise extend beyond the sleepy southern town of Jackson; rather, they suggest a broken and corrupted legal justice system that is in desperate need of improvement, with underlying themes of place,

After reading the book I have gained a new understanding of what inmates think about in prison. Working in an institution, I have a certain cynical attitude at times with inmates and their requests.

The distressing experience of operating as a prison guard in such a notorious penal facility as New York State’s Sing Sing Penitentiary is one that is unlikely to be desired by one not professionally committed to the execution of prison uniformity. However, the outstanding novel written by Tom Conover illustrates the encounters of a journalist who voluntarily plunged himself into the obscure universe of the men and women paid to spend the better portion of their lives behind prison barriers. In Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing, Conover creates a noteworthy document resonating personal emotional occurrences that nonetheless suggest the cultural sensitivity of a true prison guard. From the standpoint of our studies

Twenty-three years ago, convict Jack Taylor told me his story while I sat in my office on unit 10-B one evening. Two days ago, I decided to check and see if any of his story was true. To my surprise, most of it was. Here is that story.

In the article “The Prisoner” by Skip Hollandsworth tells the life story of Edwin Debrow, a young boy who grows up in the streets and fell into an out of control spiral when he joined the neighborhood gang. Edwin Debrow will go on to kill a taxi driver at the age of 12 and would now spend most of his life in jail. The author who has done numerous stories about kids and their tragic life has now focused on the case of Edwin

Hassine begins his narrative as he is entering prison but this time as an inmate. Prior to his incarceration, Hassine was an attorney (Hassine, 2011). Even then as an attorney, the high walls of prison intimated Hassine (Hassine, 2011). As Hassine was being processed into the system, he expressed how he systematically became hopeless from the very prison structure itself as well as because of the intimidation he felt by uniforms. Prisons of the past actually had a goal to aid individuals through rehabilitation by instilling new values in order to correct the wrongs that one may have committed during their lifetime but today this is no longer true. . Hassine draws colorful depictions of how dim and unfamiliar a prison can be in which instills fear in an individual soon as he or she

Inmates at Shawshank were often beat within an inch of their lives by the administration at Shawshank in order to instill a sense of obedience and to keep enforcing routine. Head Guard Captain Hadley would on occasion hurt the prisoners so much they would die of injury’s they sustained from him. “Black man, white man, red man, yellow man, it doesn’t matter because we’ve got our own brand of equality. In Prison every con’s a nigger and you have to get used to the idea if you intend to survive men like Hadley and Greg Stammas who really would kill you just as soon as look at you. When you’re in stir you belong to the state and if you forget it woe is you. I’ve known men who have lost eyes, men who have lost toes, Men who have lost fingers, I knew a man who lost the tip of his penis and counted himself lucky” (44) this shows the lack of moral judgment

Everybody’s felt it. That tingling sensation making all the hairs stand on the back of your neck. The sweat slowly rolling down the spine. The consciousness that everyone is staring at you, and knows the horrible deed you’ve committed. The guilty conscience of a six-year-old is a terrifying experience, and Gary Soto portrays it perfectly in his short autobiography reminiscing on when he plundered an apple pie many years ago. As we follow young Soto through the pressures of being a young criminal, he enhances the readers understanding of what it was like by using many different rhetorical devices and strategies. Soto uses a combination of imagery, symbols, and intriguing diction that allows the reader to peer into the life of his younger self.

When arriving at Florence State Prison Jimmy Santiago Baca’s life changed. Upon resaving a letter from a man named Harry he became interested on learning to read and write. Harry’s letter gave Jimmy some sense of belonging. He stated his feelings on the letter, “I was eager to communicate with someone to alleviate the boredom of the dungeon.” All it took was a paper with words to take someone away from that place they despised. Harry had sent Baca a dictionary so he could learn new words. To Jimmy this opened a new world to him. This gave him an opportunity on having control over something the prison couldn’t take from him.

Whenever you imagine prison, you think up ideas and violent images that you have seen in the movies or on TV.   Outdated clichés consisting of men eating stale bread and drinking dirty water are only a small fraction of the number of horrible, yet “just” occurrences which are stereotypical of everyday life in prison.   Perhaps it could be a combination of your upbringing, horrific ideas about the punishment which our nation inflicts on those who violate its’ more serious laws that keeps people frightened just enough to lead a law-abiding life. Despite it’s success in keeping dangerous offenders off the streets, the American prison system fails in fulfilling its original design of restoring criminals to being productive members of society, it is also extremely expensive and wastes our precious tax dollars.

Surprisingly been born and raised in the fifteenth largest city in the United States, Columbus, Ohio, Jack then studied half his college years, approximately an hour and a half away from home, receiving his Bachelor Degree at the University of Ohio. It wasn’t until after this that he decided to work towards his Master Degree at the Oklahoman University in Norman. This was in result of a job offer to be an editor for the Norman Transcript. He worked at this for six years before being appointed to a similar position for The Daily Oklahoman. He then was honorably prompted to write for the Oklahoma Courier in 1960 after becoming alumni of the University of Oklahoma.