Book Description

Library Edition. This story is about Lamont B. Moody, who grew up in a Newark, NJ housing project, during the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Like many other boys from the projects, Lamont was lured into a life of crime and heroin addiction at an early age. At 18 years old, he made his first trip to prison, and for the next 10 years he was in and out of prison for parole violations and new offenses. When he was paroled from prison in 1980 he decided not to return to his beloved hometown, Newark, New Jersey. "Whenever Newark and I would get back together, we'd soon start doing all the things that tore us apart in the first place. Everything always ended up the same way, with me leaving the city a few months later in the back of a sheriff's van headed back to the joint for parole violations or new bid...," he'd say.Lamont was 28 years old now, and determined that this time would be different. He knew his best chance of success would come with a change in residency. He decided to relocate and reinvent himself in the city of Trenton, New Jersey. Not long after parole, Lamont gains custody of his eight-year-old son, LJ, who was getting suspended from school and had also been arrested for burglary, back in Newark. He brings his son to live with him in Trenton.Lamont was determined that LJ would not become just another black boy being primed for the prison system. Lamont launched a mission to save his son from the 'jaws of the beast', while pledging, "They (the prison system) may have gotten me, but they damn sure won't get my son."Lamont and LJ were brought together at a time when they most needed one another to survive. This is Lamont's journey to overcome a history of drug addiction and prison recidivism, and raise his son.