Prison Journal: an irreverent look at life on the inside

When Boston politician Joseph Timilty was sent to the Schuylkill federal correctional institution to serve a four-month term because he refused to pull anyone else into the political dragnet he had been caught up in, he accepted his situation with dignity and courage. If he could survive four months with the marines at Parris Island, he told his family, he could survive this. For the next four months, he kept a secret diary that he smuggled out of prison in coded notes and letters to his wife. Intimate, poignant, and frequently hilarious, Prison Journal: An Irreverent Look at Life on the Inside is a compilation of his observations about his arrest and trial, his life in prison, and the aftereffects of his experiences. The book captures the paradox of prison life, a potent cocktail of high drama and dark comedy infused with exasperating ironies and inanities that will alternately make you laugh and cry. An intriguing memoir of a life-changing experience, Prison Journal provides an eye-opening look at a senseless system that squanders countless dollars on rigid bureaucracy and hypocritical rehabilitation efforts. And nine insightful recommendations look to move the prison system beyond the wasteful warehousing of nonviolent offenders to healing social wounds.