Prison From The Inside Out: One Man's Journey From A Life Sentence to Freedom


Book Description

Prison From The Inside Out is both a book and an act of trust: A black man from New Jersey and a white woman decide they have something to tell the world about incarceration, self-esteem, personal growth, survival, and the power of trust.




Beyond the Walls


Book Description

Hope for the Hopeless Carl Carlson started life with two strikes against him, and it didn’t take long for him to strike out. Bounced from an orphanage to a small town in Florida to reform school to his first taste of jail, Carl was one of those kids “we don’t want around here,” exactly what the town’s respected football coach told him. By the time he was sixteen he found himself sitting in one of the toughest youth prisons in America, bitter and filled with hatred. Carl went on to lead Men of Valor, a ministry he founded to give men in prison hope and a chance to get out and stay out. Nationally, 70 percent of those in prison return after they are released. With MOV, that rate drops to less than 15 percent. In addition to providing a comprehensive mentoring and discipleship program for offenders, MOV serves the families and children of the men—the forgotten victims of crime. Beyond the Walls shares the miraculous story of how a dead-end kid was transformed by God’s love and led back to the place he most hated: prison. It highlights the dedicated work of hundreds of Nashville-area volunteers who are quietly rebuilding the lives of men and their families. But most of all, Beyond the Walls demonstrates what can happen in society when ordinary people live out their faith and carry the love of Jesus to the least of these.




Getting Life


Book Description

“A devastating and infuriating book, more astonishing than any legal thriller by John Grisham” (The New York Times) about a young father who spent twenty-five years in prison for a crime he did not commit…and his eventual exoneration and return to life as a free man. On August 13, 1986, just one day after his thirty-second birthday, Michael Morton went to work at his usual time. By the end of the day, his wife Christine had been savagely bludgeoned to death in the couple’s bed—and the Williamson County Sherriff’s office in Texas wasted no time in pinning her murder on Michael, despite an absolute lack of physical evidence. Michael was swiftly sentenced to life in prison for a crime he had not committed. He mourned his wife from a prison cell. He lost all contact with their son. Life, as he knew it, was over. Drawing on his recollections, court transcripts, and more than 1,000 pages of personal journals he wrote in prison, Michael recounts the hidden police reports about an unidentified van parked near his house that were never pursued; the bandana with the killer’s DNA on it, that was never introduced in court; the call from a neighboring county reporting the attempted use of his wife’s credit card, which was never followed up on; and ultimately, how he battled his way through the darkness to become a free man once again. “Even for readers who may feel practically jaded about stories of injustice in Texas—even those who followed this case closely in the press—could do themselves a favor by picking up Michael Morton’s new memoir…It is extremely well-written [and] insightful” (The Austin Chronicle). Getting Life is an extraordinary story of unfathomable tragedy, grave injustice, and the strength and courage it takes to find forgiveness.




The Sun Does Shine


Book Description

"A powerful, revealing story of hope, love, justice, and the power of reading by a man who spent thirty years on death row for a crime he didn't commit"--




Life Inside Out


Book Description

Growing up in the late sixties and early seventies was fast and furious. The United States was in the heat of the Vietnam War. The theme of the time was sex, drugs, and rock-'n'-roll. I flung myself into the culture and adopted the lifestyle as my own. I was a full-fledged drunk and an addict by the time I graduated from high school. Prison, a failed marriage, and a lost desire to be a father to my two sons were proof that my life was crashing around me. Then I surrendered to Christ. It happened in the back seat of a squad car, as I was headed to prison for the third time. The change was immediate and profound, something only God could orchestrate. I'm a new man. Today, I'm pushing, pulling, and doing everything I can to help others out of the same boat I was in. From my story, you will learn that God calls even the worst of sinners. You see, God is in the business of restoring lives, and my dramatic conversion is a powerful testimony of just how much God loves people like you and me.




Marked for Life


Book Description

An empowering memoir of courage and hope in the face of injustice—and the basis for the ABC television show, For Life—Marked for Life is the true story of Isaac Wright Jr.’s battle to win his freedom after being wrongfully imprisoned for crimes he didn’t commit, and a critical indictment of America’s judicial system. “If I waited around for someone to save me, I’d be waiting my whole life. Unless I took the reins of this thing myself, I was going to die in prison. If that was my destiny, then I was going to die fighting. The desperation of that equation kept me up most nights. I would never find a gladiator. So I had to become him.” In the summer of 1989, Isaac Wright Jr. was a 28-year-old independent music producer, who’d struck out on his own and became one of hip hop’s early success stories. With his dance crew Uptown Express, Wright won recognition on Star Search, toured with Run-DMC, and transitioned into management, co-founding his wife Sunshine’s music group, The Cover Girls. They’d settled in the New Jersey suburbs to raise their six-year-old daughter, never imagining that Wright would fall victim to gross police misconduct and a corrupt district attorney. Accused of being a drug “kingpin” and incarcerated in Somerset County while the prosecutor and police built their case of lies against him, Wright realized he would get no help from any defense attorneys—white men uninterested in uncovering the truth or in proving the innocence of a black man. Pressured to take a plea deal offer of 20 years behind bars, Wright chose to take the law into his own hands by educating himself in the legal system so he could represent himself in court. Studying statutes and cases in the jail’s law library, Wright became an adept legal mind. But despite acquiring knowledge that he put to use in defending his fellow inmates, he lost his trial and was sentenced to Trenton State Prison for life, plus 70 years in 1991. For the next five years, Wright would continue learning law, become a paralegal with the prison’s Inmate Legal Association, and appeal his case. Threatened by corrupt correction officers and convicts, his family falling apart, Wright fought for his life with every legal means at his disposal, eventually uncovering the smoking gun that unraveled the conspiracy perpetrated by law enforcement officials against him. Marked for Life is not just the story of how Isaac Wright Jr. won his freedom. It is the story of how he found his true calling as a gladiator fighting on behalf of the oppressed and marginalized communities victimized by an unjust system of law.




Earning Freedom!


Book Description

Michael Santos helps audiences understand how to overcome the struggle of a lengthy prison term. Readers get to experience the mindset of a 23-year-old young man that goes into prison at the start of America's War on Drugs. They see how decisions that Santos made at different stages in the journey opened opportunities for a life of growth, fulfillment, and meaning.Santos tells the story in three sections: Veni, Vidi, Vici.In the first section of the book, we see the challenges of the arrest, the reflections while in jail, the criminal trial, and the imposition of a 45-year prison term.In the second section of the book, we learn how Santos opened opportunities to grow. By writing letters to universities, he found his way into a college program. After earning an undergraduate degree, he pursued a master's degree. After earning a master's degree, he began work toward a doctorate degree. When authorities blocked his pathway to complete his formal education, Santos shifted his energy to publishing and creating business opportunities from inside of prison boundaries.In the final section, we learn how Santos relied upon critical-thinking skills to position himself for a successful journey inside. He nurtured a relationship with Carole and married her inside of a prison visiting room. Then, he began building businesses that would allow him to return to society strong, with his dignity intact.Through Earning Freedom! readers learn how to overcome struggles and challenges. At any time, we can recalibrate, we can begin working toward a better life. Santos served 9,135 days in prison, and another 365 days in a halfway house before concluding 26 years as a federal prisoner. Through his various websites, he continues to document how the decisions he made in prison put him on a pathway to succeed upon release.




Razor-Wire Dharma


Book Description

Razor-Wire Dharma is an eloquent, enlightening, and utterly inspiring personal story how one man found Buddhism—and real, transformative meaning for his life—despite being in one of the world's harshest environments.




Journey to Mike's Freedom


Book Description

Michael Alexander Cox has been an inmate in the Georgia Prison System since 2007. He, along with his two cousins, is serving a life sentence for a crime he did not commit. This is his gripping story told in the dialect he knows well and in accurately rendered dialogue. The story starts with the earliest of his childhood memories in a loving but struggling family, continues through his troubled teen years into early adulthood, and then follows the events that led to his arrest, trial, and imprisonment. The later chapters outline his legal struggles to obtain his release and vividly describe prison life and the strategies a prisoner must employ to simply have enough to eat and a few creature comforts. This journey is Michael's quest for freedom in three senses: physical freedom, freedom from addiction, and spiritual freedom. He is searching for a relationship with his God whom he believes has a purpose for him to fulfill as an Authentic Man, one who can take his place in the community as a respected businessman, a husband and father, and a mentor to other young men who have walked the same road. Michael has not walked this difficult road alone. Several have walked with him and tried to help. But all the way along, it has been his brave and faithful mother, Evelyn Ware Cox, who has never stopped trying to obtain his release as well that of her nephews. In 2019, Joan Doggrell joined the march as Michael's typist and editor. A few pieces published on the "Opinion" page of the Newnan Times Herald pointed out some of the gaping holes in the case brought against these young Black men, who were convicted despite strong alibis and the lack of physical evidence.This is a heart-breaking story of hope and disappointment, of missed opportunities, and the tragic waste of promising young lives. You will be anxiously awaiting the outcome in the sequel to follow.




Sparrow in the Razor Wire: Finding Freedom from Within While Serving a Life Sentence


Book Description

In 1999, Quan Huynh shot and killed another man in a gang-related incident in Hollywood, California. He received a prison sentence of fifteen years to life in a state that, at the time, did not parole prisoners with life sentences. Behind bars, Quan continued his downward spiral. This could have been the end of the story for Quan, as it is for many prisoners. But somewhere along the way, he discovered a new path-one that prompted him to commit to self-reflection, truth, and personal responsibility. Sparrow in the Razor Wire is Quan's story of transformation inside a place many see as the end of the road. In his book, he shares the journey of redemption and discovery that led to his ultimate freedom. He found that, no matter the prison, the key to unlocking the door is in each one of us.