John Kiriakou

I enjoyed reading the author's experiences of serving time in a Federal prison. As a retired Federal Bureau of Prison's employee, I recognized much of what the author experienced. The poor health care available, the abysmal education programs, the drama between inmates, and between staff.
The author is obviously not your typical inmate. Very educated, very experienced, very intelligent. Not the kind of inmate one typically runs into (but there were some!). I leave it up to you to decide if he belonged there or not.
I found the book to be well written, easy to read, and engaging. I recommend it to anyone interested in corrections or inmate behavior.
Time for a rant!
Taking all of the author's observations about the Bureau of Prisons into account, I still feel it necessary to defend my organization. The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) seems to be at the bottom of the barrel for government funding. No one wants to give money to help inmates, they just want them put away out of sight and sound. But, for the most part, most BOP employees try their best with what they have.
When you have on physician assigned to a prison with over 800 inmates, it's an impossible situation. "Physician's Assistants" are hired to cover the shortages. In my experience, many of the PA's were from other countries, with poor English skills, and were just trying to get their foot in the door of the US healthcare system.
Education: when I began my career in the late 1980's, inmates had a much better chance of improving themselves through education. Many inmates were enrolled in college. Unfortunately, the government seen fit to cut all of the programs, not wanting to look "soft on crime". We're left with basically a warehouse of felons with no chance of improving their lives.
Food service: I had the opportunity to work with the "food dudes" for a period of time. Those folks were dedicated! Imagine turning out three meals a day to a thousand inmates. They did this with three or four BOP employees, supervising the inmates who actually did the cooking. Using government surplus food products. And with the inmates being paid about 10 cents an hour, food service got the most unmotivated "employees" that you could imagine. No wonder the inmates were always scamming to steal food, it was their only real source of income.
Correctional Officers: I hate it when these books characterize CO's as lazy, stupid, or incompetent. I challenge the author to try to run a unit of 100 inmates by himself. Everyone of the inmates thinking that they have the right to the officer's undivided attention as needed. Imagine an elementary school teacher with a class of 100 students! And all of them students who would much rather be anywhere else than where they are. I admit, there are some bad apples serving as CO's. Just like there are bad apples in the police force, the trades, the schools, etc. BUT, for the most part, CO's are some of the most dedicated people I ever met. When an incident occurs, the affected officer pushes his "body alarm", setting off a signal to the entire prison's employees. He then has to try to control the situation (being assaulted, a medical emergency, or a fight between inmates) by himself, until the "calvary" arrives to help. It is a sight to see, every employee not directly involved with an inmate at the time, running at full tilt to assist the affected officer. Knowing that by giving their all to help, that when the tables are turned and they need help, others will respond the same. It's a measure of their dedication.
Until the country as a whole wakes up and realizes that the men and women they send to prison are going to eventually get out and be alongside them in society, things will not improve. Without education and decent healthcare, these inmates are coming out more frustrated, more deadly, and without much hope of turning their lives around for the better.
A GOOD, ENTERTAINING BOOK!… (plus d'informations)

I didn't expect to find this book nearly as interesting as it ended up being. John Kiriakou was employed by the CIA in the 1990s and early 2000s, but he ended up on the wrong side of a federal investigation after speaking to the press about the CIA torture program. In the end, Kiriakoou pled guilty to a felony and served time in a low security federal prison. The prison is a unique environment and Kiriakou finds that he can utilize the skillset he used as a CIA agent to navigate prison. This book is fairly short, but it's also powerful - at times it made me laugh and other moments horrified me. Overall, this book made me think more about prison reform than I ever considered and the author makes a compelling case for why ordinary Americans should care about the welfare of those held in prisons. This is a great book to read if you're interested in exploring prison reform as more than just a political issue.… (plus d'informations)