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.

At a time in his life when most people retire, Link felt called to serve the Church and to aid the men that his profession normally put behind bars, ministering healing and forgiveness to murderers, thieves, and what many would call the least of society. This is a book about the value of human life, and about the transformative power of friendship and compassion. He makes the case for adding our own unique gifts to help the least of these, our brothers and sisters from all walks of life.

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.

Nicolas was a young man with a beautiful wife and children when he was convicted for the murder of three boys. With no power against the law, Nicolas took his punishment as his life was turned upside down forever. For once, his future was completely out of his control. Nicolas found himself barely surviving in one of the worst prisons in South America. Every day was a fight for survival, to not step on the toes of any of the inmates or cross paths with the wrong prison gang. Some may think you are safer in prison than on the streets, but the reality is very different. Every day Nicolas woke up, he knew he was closer to his release, but farther from his sanity. He kept track of the years, and his life, as it passed him by. Only so much starvation, torture, death, and cockroaches could break a man, no matter how strong. And the worst part was that Nicolas would live within the prison of his mind for the rest of his life.

Paul Cowley grew up in Manchester amid the chaotic world of his alcoholic parents. His early exposure to heavy drinking, explosive arguments and the unnerving aggression of his father led him into homelessness and crime. By seventeen he was behind bars. Years later, following a career in the army which 'made a man of him' yet ultimately failed to give him direction and purpose, Paul's search for meaning resulted in an unexpected encounter with God that changed his life for ever. This remarkable and touching account of his early years, from thief to prisoner, soldier and, eventually, priest, should inspire anyone who feels their life is out of control. It is, by turns, a dramatic, traumatic and comic story, yet one that stands as a testament to how God offers hope to all who have the courage to respond.

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.