The Hot House : Life Inside Leavenworth Prison

Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Public Relations Move by the Bureau of Prisons
Review: This book is very well written and accurately captures the atmosphere of life in a maximum security prison. It does slightly overdramatize daily life and fails to capture the routine and boredom that affects the inmates, and to a much greater extent the guards. It also gives the reader a glimps of an organization in which fear is the dominating controlling mechanism. The fear experienced by the inmates is obvious, the fear experienced by the staff is only faintly recognized. A good example of staff who are afraid, not of the inmates but of the administration, is seen in the episode where the inmate walks out of the institution unchallenged while posing as the Regional Safety Manager conducting an inspection. He was unchallenged because all of the guards involved knew what the consequences would be for offending an employee who wears the hallowed title of "Administrator". The inmate merely took advantage of the situation. One would hope that the Bureau of Prisons would learn something from this incident but I have seen no evidence of that. On a personal level it shows the danger of allowing fear to rule your actions. Mr. Early also does an excellent job of capturing the way that individuals who are true criminal personalities think. An example is his quote of an inmate who thinks of honest citizens as rabitts and states that God placed rabitts on earth for one reason; food for predators.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: This is a great book. My perspective was that I had just read The Hurricane and was intrigued by what goes on in prison. I was looking for a book that would tell me gory details of what it is really like inside a prison. This books did the job. It is told from the perspective of the reporter who interviewed both inmates and prioson officials. So, you get a perspective from hardened murderers on death row as well as by newer inmates who are preyed upon by other inmates. You also get a good look at the life of the warden as well as the other prison officials. It also gives you a good look at the history of Leavenworth itself which is quite interesting. All in all, a very quick read. It moves along and don't dwell on any one area for too long. Very interesting reading (if you are into this sort of thing). It is by no means a literary masterpiece but it will give you a solid look at the way "that world" works.

Rating:
Summary: An educational read of real life in prison
Review: Too bad I misplaced my 1st copy! Just purchased again and will read this book for the second time. It was very well written and had me glued to it's pages the first time I read it years ago, I just had to read it again!