Why the need for another book on crime, prison overcrowding, drug and alcohol addictions, etc., when hundreds have already been written? This is a book you have not read, written by real people, and these stories are all true. They come from the hearts of real people who have loved ones incarcerated or have been incarcerated. It is written from the only perspective I know, and that is my own life. Of my six children, five sons and one daughter, four of my sons have been incarcerated at one time or another. Our oldest son died in prison.

These are true stories from other families, former inmates, and professionals who have the lives of the accused and the convicted in their hands. You will hear from a former director of the Department of Corrections, a former legislator, an ex-warden, a public defender, a director of Sober Living Houses, the director of CURE, and volunteers who go behind the razor wire to bring life and hope to the incarcerated.

Sentencing changes that have created more crimes, with more severe penalties and longer sentences are the reasons behind this explosion. The “For-Profit” Private Prisons System has created a monster of greed, indifference and conflicts of interest. Everyday in the state capitols of this country, greedy lobbyists are allowed to flatter, entertain, and often offer financial incentives to the men and women who make our laws. Now we have to vote to make the necessary changes to “undo” some of those outrageous changes that could bankrupt our nation if something isn’t done and soon.

A crisis has been created by the backlash from the tough on crime mind-set; we are reaping the whirlwind of seeds that were sown. This book will open your understanding and you will get a true picture of what goes on behind the walls of those concrete warehouses, with razor wire halos; where men and women live in “cages like birds.” Jer. 5:28

Pat Galloway