A Priest Behind Bars is an intriguing autobiographical novel by Fr. Marcelo Blázquez Rodrigo, a Spanish Roman Catholic priest who spent over a quarter of a century in the United States as a prison chaplain and counselor on "the inside". He worked in some of the harshest maximum-security New York State correctional facilities, including Coxsackie and Comstock. Blázquez brings the fascinating stories of New York inmates into the light. Each chapter tells the story of a different prisoner, from a Vietnam vet drug addict with AIDS to a convicted rapist who nearly dies as a result of a self-imposed hunger strike in defense of his religious convictions. This book openly criticizes the New York penal system and offers exclusive insight into its inner workings from the perspective of a first hand witness of the atrocities of prison life.

This journal, taken when John Dear was in jail for eight months after a disarmament action, allows you to enter into the world of prisoners and a committed peacemaker.

Letters for the Ages Behind Bars is a history of imprisonment told through the letters of people incarcerated over many centuries, for crimes committed or sometimes even for no reason at all. It is a story that runs from St Paul right up to the present day. The act of depriving someone of their liberty is one of humankind's most enduring responses to 'crime' through history. What society has sought to achieve over the years by doing so has shifted across the centuries and there is now a variety of purposes: to express disapproval; for the purpose of straight-up punishment through the removal of freedom; to protect the general public; to rehabilitate, perhaps even to forget about those with whom we simply cannot cope. The letters assembled here come from all parts of the world, and from time immemorial: Thomas Cromwell, Mary Queen of Scots, Eamon De Valera, Al Capone, Martin Luther King and many more. These letters not only reveal what it is like to be behind bars, but raise issues that are still of pressing interest for us today - such as the death penalty, miscarriages of justice, redemption and social change. They shed light on a system which is primarily one of contradictions – there are letters which inspire, horrify, letters which awe and condemn – even letters which make you laugh or cry.

When the Roberts family's favorite priest started inviting himself to dine at their dinner table weekly, they were delighted to oblige. Then, when the priest started inviting their teenaged son, Michael, on day trips, they were even more pleased to see their son developing a close friendship with their beloved priest. What the family did not know was that the priest was grooming Robert for what would become years on ongoing sexual abuse. In Behind Sacred Walls, Michael describes how he fell under the control of the priest, who abused him verbally, emotionally, and sexually. It was, the priest told him, God's will that the teenager satisfy the priests human needs. Even though he was riddled with shame and guilt, Michael saw no way out of the continuing abuse. Most of all, he feared the pain it would cause his parents if they found out. In the end, Roberts tells how he was eventually able to extricate himself from the abusive relationship with the priest. He also relates the years of red tape he encountered with the Catholic Church while seeking justice.

More than two million people are incarcerated in America's prisons--one in nine is serving a life sentence. Mass long-term imprisonment devours state budgets, adversely affects community well-being and skews our collective moral compass. This study examines the human costs of keeping the convicted out of sight, out of mind. Beginning in 1994, the author began recording the personal stories of 50 incarcerated felons--17 of them were still in prison 20 years later. The men candidly discuss what it means to commit a serious crime and to be confined for perhaps the remainder of their lives. Their stories are balanced by conversations with correctional officers, prison administrators, chaplains and parole board members. The author identifies circumstances that ruin some prisoners and save others and presents insights for possible improvements in the criminal justice system.

Travel across Ontario and visit Ontarios heritage jails, ranging in size from single cell lockups to massive monuments such as the Kingston Pen and the Don Jail.