This is the type of story that honestly leaves me struggling to describe, let alone be able to rate; because how can someone truly form an opinion or leave a certain amount of stars on the sheer facts of someone elses life?
Prison from the Inside Out has been described as a book and a act of trust; we are being told the authors truth and life story - and it's something that should be heard.
in 1991, William Elmore shot a gun towards a parked car - protecting a friend that he believed to be caught up in a drug deal gone awry. Two years later, the very friend he was trying to protect testified that he purposely was attempting to kill a passenger in that same van who unfortunately passed in hospital not long after, William knew he shouldn't have shot the gun, he was honest about the things he'd done, but he wasn't a murderer - and he believed the courts would find this so strongly that he took to the stand to fight for justice rather than plead guilty to murder. This book is not an excuse, this book is frank and honest about any wrongdoings or accidents William was involved in - this book is an exploration into what the justice system really is behind closed doors.
He was sentenced to a mandatory life sentence - the rest of his natural life without any possibiliy of parole. For a death caused in what was believed to be self-defence, a sentence that really didn't seem to fit the crime.
In prison, William, a black male, met a white woman called Susan Simone - and they decided people should know more about the justice system; the truth about rehabilitation, punishment, survival and the reality of incarceration.
This book was raw, real and honestly a revelation - as someone who has an interest in justice reform, hearing such a honest first-hand account of someone who has gone through the entire justice system and the prison system was eye-opening to say the least. This story was a truly unique experience - not just giving the perspective of the detainees, but the families, the friends, the prison workers - it allowed the reader to make their own informed opinion about the subject rather than swaying to one conclusion.
Now, it was a little hard to read at times for two reasons - the subject being so difficult to swallow of course, and sometimes it did feel like a series of essays rather than a book and sometimes I felt like I was getting lost in the pages - That being said, I think with stories such as this it's the content and not the writing style that makes any difference at all. I just wanted to keep reading and find out more about the lives of these people.
Anybody who is looking to learn more about justice or the prison system should give this a read.
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