Jail

Did you know that the United States has a greater percentage of its population locked up than any other country in the world?
 * Friends Outside. Providing services to incarcerated and reentering people, their families and communities
 * The National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated Oldest and largest organization in the U.S. focused on children and families of the incarcerated and programs that serve them.


 * Books About Prison: **

Life in Prison Paperback by [|Stanley Williams]  (Author),  [|Barbara Cottman]  (Author),  [|D. Stevens]  (Photographer) From Publishers Weekly. As a boy, Williams heard the older kids who'd served time tell stories that made prison sound glamorous and fun, a place to hang out with your friends and prove how tough you were. But now, after 16 years on San Quentin's death row for the murders of four people, Williams (Gangs and Violence), co-founder of the notorious Los Angeles Crips gang, knows that prison "is no place you'd ever want to be." In this slender volume, he explains why: the cramped quarters, lack of freedom and privacy, homesickness, violence and daily indignities (strip searches, having to use the toilet in public). Williams often goes beyond mere description, asking readers to imagine or emulate his experiences ("To get a feel for what it's like to live in a prison cell, test yourself. Spend ten hours?nonstop and alone?in your bathroom"), an effective technique. Though the book's stated goal is to warn kids away from Williams's path, its matter-of-fact, often homogenized tone connotes more of a plea for sympathy than a caution intended to frighten kids. Co-author Becnel's foreword contributes to this problem, although the stark black-and-white photographs of Williams, San Quentin and other prisons and prisoners toughens the tone to some degree. Those concerned that purchasing the book will profit a convicted killer can be reassured: Williams's royalties will be donated to the Institute for the Prevention of Youth Violence. Ages 8-up. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc