Sunday, November 22, 2009

Books by My Clients: Inside: Life Behind Bars in America, by Michael G. Santos


From a federal inmate in his more than twenty years of continuous confinement comes a controversial expose of the shocking details of life in American prisons. American jails and prisons confine nearly 13.5 million people each year, and it is estimated that 6 to 7 percent of the U.S. population will be confined in their lifetimes. Despite these disturbing numbers, little is known about life inside beyond the mythology of popular culture.

Michael G. Santos, a federal prisoner having served two decades of continuous confinement, has dedicated the last eighteen years to shedding light on 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 that at last illuminate the varied ways in which men experience life behind bars in America.

Michael 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, and was pursuing a Ph.D. until the Bureau of Prisons rules blocked his progress. He contributes to an extensive Web site at http://www.michaelsantos.net/ as a resource for families of people behind bars. Based on his impeccable disciplinary record, he looks forward to his release next year.

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