What happens to a successful woman when her world falls apart and she is faced with betrayal, breast cancer, and prison? What happens when her pain Is unimaginable and her choices look bleak. When all this happened to Sue Ellen Allen, she chose to turn her pain into power. The death of Gina, her young roommate, coupled with an atmosphere of darkness and negativity, led her to find her passion and purpose behind the bars. Her experience of cancer, prison, and Gina s death is an inspirational story of courage, wisdom, and choices.
From the Governor General’s Award winning author of Forms of Devotion, Our Lady of the Lost and Found and By the Book “Never once in my life had I dreamed of being in bed with a convicted killer.” For almost six turbulent years, award-winning writer Diane Schoemperlen was involved with a prison inmate serving a life sentence for second-degree murder. The relationship surprised no one more than her. How do you fall in love with a man with a violent past? How do you date someone who is in prison? This Is Not My Life is the story of the romance between Diane and Shane—how they met and fell in love, how they navigated passes and parole and the obstacles facing a long-term prisoner attempting to return to society, and how, eventually, things fell apart. While no relationship takes place in a vacuum, this is never more true than when that relationship is with a federal inmate. In this candid, often wry, sometimes disturbing memoir, Schoemperlen takes us inside this complex and difficult relationship as she journeys through the prison system with Shane. Not only did this relationship enlarge her capacity for both empathy and compassion, but it also forced her to more deeply examine herself.
"Unshackled Potential: Unlocking Potential Behind Bars—A Pathway to Prosperity Beyond Prison" is a groundbreaking guide that serves as a beacon of hope for those incarcerated and their loved ones. This book is a comprehensive manual designed to empower inmates with the knowledge and strategies necessary to rise above their circumstances, reorient their outlook, and prepare for a prosperous life post-incarceration. The transformative journey starts from within the prison walls. This book challenges the notion that prison is solely a punishment, instead presenting it as an opportunity for self-improvement, growth, and positive change. With a blend of practical advice and psychological insight, the book tackles real issues such as navigating prison life, overcoming negative influences, managing self-defeating thoughts, and cultivating a mindset of resilience and optimism. The guide also explores powerful tools such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for self-improvement and offers coping mechanisms to handle the anxiety, guilt, fear, and pessimism that can pervade prison life. It emphasizes the importance of discipline, self-control, and nonviolent communication in personal transformation. It further prepares the reader for life beyond the prison walls, with chapters dedicated to goal setting, beating recidivism, redefining identity, and job hunting after release. Inmates will learn how to navigate society, start a service business, and develop financial literacy— essential skills for reintegrating into the community successfully. To ensure a holistic approach, the book underscores the significance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, continuing education, joining support groups, volunteering in the community, and securing stable housing post-incarceration. It empowers the inmate to transform from being a prisoner to a change agent, advocating for systemic reforms and societal acceptance. "Unshackled Potential" is more than just a book; it is a roadmap to personal reinvention. This resource is not just for inmates; it is equally insightful for their families and friends who wish to understand and support their loved ones during this challenging journey. This is a testament to the enduring human spirit that, even when shackled, can find the strength to unlock its potential and soar toward a prosperous future.
"Within Prison Walls" by Thomas Mott Osborne. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.
For the overwhelming majority of women leaving correctional institutions in the United States, there is one aspect of their identity that informs their needs, opportunities, hopes, and dreams: their roles as mothers. This Is Our Freedom provides an intimate and moving portrait of women’s journeys prior to and after incarceration. In interviews with seventy formerly incarcerated mothers, Geniece Crawford Mondé captures how women reframe their marginalized identity and place themselves at the center of their own stories. With incisive analysis, Mondé reveals the complex ways that motherhood shapes post-incarceration life, while highlighting how the lasting legacy of mass incarceration continues to impact society’s most vulnerable members.
"A magnificent inquiry into the human condition."—Publishers Weekly, starred review Thirty years ago, when Kenneth Hartman was nineteen, he murdered a homeless man in a Los Angeles park. Sentenced to life without parole, Hartman gradually evolved into a devoted husband, father, and prison reform activist. Mother California offers definite proof that there is no such thing as a life beyond redemption.
Learning behind Bars is an oral history of former Irish republican prisoners in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland between 1971, the year internment was introduced, and 2000, when the high-security Long Kesh Detention Centre/HM Prison Maze closed. Dieter Reinisch outlines the role of politically motivated prisoners in ending armed conflicts as well as the personal and political development of these radical activists during their imprisonment. Based on extensive life-story interviews with Irish Republican Army (IRA) ex-prisoners, the book examines how political prisoners developed their intellectual positions through the interplay of political education and resistance. It sheds light on how prisoners used this experience to initiate the debates that eventually led to acceptance of the peace process in Northern Ireland. Politically relevant and instructive, Learning behind Bars illuminates the value of education, politics, and resistance in the harshest of social environments.
Chronicles the life of Elaine Bartlett, a woman who spent sixteen years in prison for selling cocaine, tracing her steps as she is released from prison and tries to reconstruct her life.
