Marching Powder by Rusty Young and Thomas McFadden

Marching Powder: A true story of friendship, cocaine, and South America's strangest jail, Rusty Young and Thomas McFadden. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003. e-book, 378 pps.

Thomas McFadden was an international [sort of] distributor of drugs. He was living in England and had the misfortune to be caught holding at a Bolivian airport. After some time in a holding cell, he was sent to San Pedro. 

San Pedro at that time was a different sort of prison. Thomas McFadden quickly discovered that he was expected to pay some money to get in to the prison and then he was expected to buy his own cell. Another prisoner befriended him and promptly gave him the nic "ingles" which pretty much saved his life. The prisoners hated Americans. Bunches of folks were in the prison because of the so-called War On Drugs.

The prisoners were also expected to find their own jobs within the prison if they wanted to work. A prisoner could help make cocaine, sell cocaine, run a restaurant or grocery story, act as a courier or some other stuff inside. Ingles began conducting tours. The tours became widely popular among the backpacking set and then spread to other tourists.

Yes, Thomas McFadden did cocaine and quite a few other drugs and got drunk in San Pedro just like almost everyone else. There is a pretty woman, some rapists, a prison pool, and the families of the other prisoners in the story. Marching Powder illustrates the depth of corruption within San Pedro at that point in time. Reports differ as to whether or not things have changed there.

sapphoq reviews says: Thomas McFadden and Rusty Young have written a captivating [and true] narrative. I could not put the book down. Highly recommended.




a couple of news articles you can check out if you want to:

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2009/jan/17/prison-tour-la-paz-bolivia

and

http://rt.com/news/brad-pitt-cleans-up-bolivian-prison/

Inside by Michael G. Santos

Inside: Life Behind Bars in America. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2007. e-book,  277 pps.

Michael G. Santos was sentenced to forty-five years for drug trafficking as a young man. Specifically, he headed up an informal organization that worked to get coke from Miami into the streets of Seattle. He was caught. He was arrested and went to court. He was locked up.

Inside talks about the author's own experiences inside the criminal justice system as an incarcerated inmate. By necessity, he describes some of what happens around him. He includes the language (curse words) but does not identify the ethnicity of any of the other inmates. This is not Michael Santos' first book. He has written several others about incarceration.

When Michael G. Santos first arrived in a prison, he determined that he had to do certain things in order to prepare himself for a life outside the walls. He obtained several degrees and while working for a doctorate, his access to education was cut off. He has been transferred several times during his sentence. Inside is a compendium of characters (with changed names and some details altered) that Santos has met during his imprisonment. It is also an indictment of the prison system itself.

sapphoq reviews says: Prisons are no longer considered to be rehabilitative. The purpose is punishment and separation from society for a period of time. A prisoner who concentrates on preparing for his release-- rather than just doing his time day to day-- is a rarity and a perceived threat to the security of a prison. Santos has been open about his writing in prison, not always with good results. The story that struck me the most was the one where a prison guard set up sex sessions with his wife for money. Some prisoners eagerly agreed to the guard's scheme. The guard and his willing wife made some extra money. 
     Michael G. Santos is not looking for pity, sympathy, or an ear upon which to scream about the horrors of prison life. His writing style is matter-of-fact. His education shows in his writing. Highly recommended.

Search for a Silver Lining by B.C. Murray

Search for a Silver Lining: One Man's Life Inside the Bizarre World of Prison, B.C. Murray. Portland OR: BookBaby, 2013. e-book, 309 pps.

B.C. Murray is currently incarcerated. He is from the South and has done his time primarily in southern jails and a hub (a prison where an inmate waits with other inmates until there are adequate numbers to justify the use of transport dollars to transfer an inmate to wherever he is going within the system). He has landed at a fed pen in Arkansas. Search for a Silver Lining is primarily about the social aspect of his experiences as a prisoner.

sapphoq reviews says: B.C. Murray admits near the end of his book that his motives for writing it were unclear. Certainly, he recounted some humorous tales of various cellies. He also had a few things to say about prison jobs-- food service jobs are the worst-- and he busts a few racially-based myths along the way. Unfortunately, his writing suffered from his lack of purpose. There is a weak argument that after being through the humiliation of arrests, court dates, trials and public media, prison is almost a relief. There is also the unconvincing argument that it makes more economic sense to give non-violent prisoners house arrest. I don't know if it makes more economic sense or not. I do know that his arguments were not backed up by any evidence. I did enjoy the variety of quotations that B.C. Murray used to set off each chapter. Any monies received will go to his two sons, he says. Not really recommended.

Prison, Inc., by K.C. Carceral

Prison, Inc., by K.C. Carceral. edited by Thomas J. Bernard. New York: New York University Press, 2006. e-book, 268 pps.

Prison, Inc. was written under a pseudonym in order to avoid any retaliation by those who watch over prisoners. K.C. Carceral has remorse for his crime, as evidenced by his apology that has been inserted before the table of contents. The author does not seek to excuse his actions nor does he seek to deliver a "feel good" tome on how to change the prison system so it doesn't suck quite as much.

What K.C. Carceral succeeds in doing is pointing up the dangers inherent in privatizing prisons (to the lowest bidder) to both convicts and the staff. He goes into his own history as a way to illustrate his points. Each chapter also analyzes how inept policy contributes to the problem. In the first chapter, the Reflections go into the idea that although private prisons are not allowed in the state where he was incarcerated for eighteen years, policy allows for transfer of prisoners to a privatized prison located somewhere in the south.

K.C. Carceral spent four years in the southern privatized prison before being transferred out. He states that the privatized prison was the most violent of any that he has ever done time in. His last chapter, Part VI, Analysis details multiple factors at work in making the privatized prison so violent a place for the convicts and the guards and other workers.

sapphoq reviews says: I had to get used to the references to "Northern State," "Southern State," "Anonymous Numbered Inmate," "Ventura," and "Enterprise."  I admire K.C. Carceral for daring to write Prison, Inc. in spite of possible dire personal consequences for him. (He remains in prison to date). Wardens and other staff people in corrections object when a current inmate write a book. For the uninitiated, prison is no longer considered by the Department of Corrections to be a rehabilitative experience. Convicts are there for punishment. All decisions must [should] have as their bottom line the perceived safety of the institution.
     Prison, Inc. is a fine book. K.C. Carceral has many things to say and he says them well. His writing is scholarly. He is not asking for pity, sympathy or outrage. He is clear about his guilt and not blaming anyone other than himself for his incarceration. The book pulls no punches. Highly recommended for those studying social justice issues, radicals, protesters, people working on behalf of prisoners, and general (adult) audiences. 

The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz

The Long Walk:  The True Story of a Trek to Freedom, Slavomir Rawicz.  Guilford, Ct.: Globe Pequot Press, 2010.  e-book, 253 pps.



   Slavomir Rawicz, Lieutenant of the Polish Cavalry, was arrested on November 19, 1939 at his home during a party welcoming him home.  He had barely gotten in the doorway and managed a few hellos before the Soviet Secret Police came for him.  His supposed crime was espionage.  After spending a miserable year in the Lubyanka hellhole, Rawicz was given a three day trial.  At the end of the trial, he was sentenced to twenty five years of hard labor.  He was briefly returned to Lubyanka.

     The next several months found Slavomir Rawicz rounded up along with other political prisoners into a train of cattle cars with standing room only, and then a rough march through part of the wintry and bitter cold Siberia to Camp Number 303.  A chance conversation with an Ostyak in Russian got Rawicz seriously thinking about escape.

     Deliberately, Rawicz plotted the escape.  Six other prisoners joined him.  Together they walked down the side of the then Soviet Union, through parts of Mongolia and then Tibet, and into British India.  The landscape was forbidding.  Starvation was a perpetual companion.  Through the hospitality of many poor villagers, Rawicz and his buddies were enabled to carry on. 

     Not everyone survived.  Among those that did was one American.  The American had been arrested and subsequently denied his right to contact the American Embassy.  The band of escaped prisoners were pretty beat up by time they reached India and help.  Rawicz had intentions of returning to Poland immediately to continue fighting the war.  He hadn't realized how much in need he was of medical attention and recovery.  Having lost everything, Rawicz did return to fighting in the war.  He never had contact with his companions again.

sapphoq reviews says:  I appreciated the immense history behind this book.  The events did not occur in a vacuum, but rather with the distinct backdrop of World War Two.  The Long Walk gave me a real sense of what it might be like to live in the Soviet Union during wartime, when the Secret Police snatched people up with impunity and carted them off to various Soviet prisons and concentration camps.  What Slavomir Rawicz and his comrades went through in fleeing from Siberia is a tale that left me with both a certain grittiness and a deep admiration for them.  Highly recommended.