Inside: Life Behind Bars in America

Michael G. Santos

Macmillan, Jun 26, 2007 - Social Science - 336 pages

Before Orange is the New Black, there was Inside.

American jails and prisons confine nearly 13.5 million people each year. Despite these disturbing numbers, little is known about life inside beyond the mythology of popular culture.

Michael G. Santos, a federal prisoner nearing the end of his second decade of continuous confinement, documents the lives of the men warehoused in the American prison system. Inside: Life Behind Bars in America, his first book for the general public, takes us behind those bars and into the chaos of the cellblock.

Capturing the voices of his fellow prisoners with perfect pitch, Santos makes the tragic—and at times inspiring—stories of men from the toughest gang leaders to the richest Wall Street criminals come alive. From drug schemes, murders for hire, and even a prostitution ring that trades on the flesh of female prison guards, this book contains the never-before-seen details of prison life that at last illuminate the varied ways in which men experience life behind bars in America.

What people are saying

INSIDE: Life Behind Bars in America

User Review  - Jane Doe - Kirkus

Incarcerated for drug-trafficking since 1987, Santos documents the tedium and brutality of prison life. The author's first book weaves memoir and first-hand reporting together to paint a muckraking ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - Darcia - LibraryThing

Michael Santos was arrested on a nonviolent drug charge during the 1980s, when our government was treating drug suppliers like terrorists. Santos had never been in trouble, had no violence or gun ...

Contents

• Section 1: 1
• Section 2: 10
• Section 3: 20
• Section 4: 30
• Section 5: 50
• Section 6: 61
• Section 7: 74
• Section 8: 86
• Section 9: 102
• Section 10: 122
• Section 11: 139
• Section 12: 156
• Section 13: 177
• Section 14: 185
• Section 15: 196
• Section 16: 208
• Section 17: 219
• Section 18: 232
• Section 19: 245
• Section 20: 260
• Section 21: 279
• Section 22: 287
• Section 23: 291

About the author

Michael G. Santos was convicted in 1987, at the age of twenty-three, of crimes relating to his participation in a drug-trafficking scheme and sentenced to forty-five years in prison. He has earned a bachelor of arts and a master of arts. He contributes to an extensive website as a resource for those who seek to understand the prison system and the people it holds. He is currently designated to the Federal Prison Camp in Lompoc, California, and based on his impeccable disciplinary record, looks forward to his release in 2013.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Inside: Life Behind Bars in America
• Author: Michael G. Santos
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Macmillan, 2007
• ISBN: 0312343507, 9780312343507
• Length: 336 pages
• Subjects: Social Science / Criminology; Social Science / Penology; Social Science / Violence in Society