This book has three main sections-the Outside-Inside-Outside chapters-and each section is followed by one, two, or three short pieces by a wide variety of people: convicts and friends, as well as cops and correctional officers. There are also a few extra but related pieces. The goal is to draw upon the experience, knowledge, and wisdom of as broad a group as possible to prevent some from going inside in the first place and beyond that to help convicts get outside again and then remain outside.

To encourage a we/they mentality is to promote a way of dealing with life that can only lead to failure. To turn things around it must be seen that it does take the whole "village" to at least slow down the rates of incarceration and recidivism present today. Those who find themselves working somewhere in the criminal justice system care deeply about these things just as much as those who are caught up in the system. Prison is not a cash cow or a for-profit industry, an idea that merely fosters the we/they mind-set and is a backbone of those who war against the powers that be. I have encountered this for thirty years at San Quentin, especially from those newly imprisoned, and have witnessed what a roadblock it is to living free and productive lives outside.

Many convicts I have encountered and have come to know and like are still in, but I am out, and the reason I am writing this book is to prevent others from going inside in the first place. But if you are inside, there are some ideas on how to get out, and once out, something about how to stay out.