You Are Going To Prison

by Jim Hogshire

Book by Jim Hogshire

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Law, Sociology, Reference

181 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insiders look at what you can expect if you ever find yourself in this situation...cuts past the bone and into the marrow. Not like in the movies; this book will give you an insiders perspective on what really happens in prison and why many of the same problems never seem to get worked out. A great book for someone studying criminal justice.

[Ellis Amdur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jim  Hogshire doesn't like the criminal justice system.  He hates cops, corrections officers, judges, and prosecutors.  He vilifies all of them in lurid vitriol.  You may disagree with his politics and his perspective, except for one important point.  If you are going to prison, none of those people care for you.  They won't help you.  And you have only a very limited ability to help yourself.  His objective is to help you survive.  Perhaps the best recommendation is the one given by the US Department of Justice:  "A comprehensive book of advice and information from the initial contact with police to dealing with prison rape clear through the execution protocol.  This book contains information on many of the dangers and scams that may be encounters along the way. . . As excellent as it is disturbing."

It's not an enjoyable read - and I'm not referring to the ugly things he describes. I'm not going to read books on auto mechanics for pleasure - but if I need to fix my car, I want the best book I can find. Similarly, if you aren't going to prison, probably no need to read this. If you are, it'd be a good idea to get it right away.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tons of useful information in case you ever land in the slammer or have a brush with the law.

[Deyth Banger · Rating 5 out of 5]

What more awesome than that?
The story is incrediable, few hours in jail having the chance to meet all prisoners. To be part of them, to be a part of a judge son. To be a part of a guy who is been in prison a lot of times and wants to make a revenge. To be part of how people make with you jokes, to see what happens if you kill a boss from a group. To see what happens with the people from the group to see how they start working with you. They start helping you in fight, to be a part of something incrediable. The End is suprising!

[Bryan Worra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book you hope you never have to have practical application for, but again, it's pretty honest and straight-forward about how to set your affairs in order and get ready to find out why they call it "The Slammer". Or "The Pokey," depending on which region of the US you're living in.

[melvinhiddenelder · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important read for anyone involved in crime.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was published in 1994 and could use an updated edition, but it should probably still be required reading for every American high school kid.

[Shenanitims · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I read this book a bazillion times in college. "Just in case..." I would tell my concerned friends. Luckily, I've never found a use for it. Man, I miss Loompanics Unlimited...

[Gina]

Hogshire has an obvious distaste for cops. But he offers practical advice for those on one side of the law and a good laugh for those on the other.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a surprise. It was funny but completely practical. It was also disgusting to read about the US prison system.

I highly recommend it.

[Rodney Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very quick and fun read walking the reader through the entire United States criminal 'justice' system from arrest to prosecution to the administration of the death penalty. Hogshire's easy writing shows the reader how to survive

[Ern Hugs · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stupid-ass advice for stupid-ass people. Everything that’s true can be gleaned in a more entertaining fashion from watching Oz or talking to any PD or former PD for ten minutes. Lots of it, especially the legal advice, is false or unwise.

[6655321 · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is a REALLY hard book to review, i've never been incarcerated so, like, i can't review it from the standpoint of "yes, this was helpful to me in terms of my sentence" or anything. also Jim Hogshire does say some some pretty homophobic and racist things in the course of his book [although from his perspective it is about being "true" about prison life] but does seem, from a limited perspective, to be attempting to publish a very, very ugly book on how to survive being in prison. A lot the suggested survival methods are things that most people would balk at doing (exploiting people via pen pal systems, although ripping off "book of the month clubs" does seem like a good way to stay sane). However, from the standpoint of someone who has been a Person of Interest for police before, his advice on how to talk to and behave around police is certainly solid advice, with some qualifications (he assumes you are a white cismale). If you are not identified as male by the state (the intended audience for this book), there certainly is less information that you can use [because much of it rests on the premise that you are going to a men's penitentiary and are male identified/male embodied]. Also, the book is extremely triggering and frank about matters of sexual violence. I'm giving it a qualified 3 stars because it is extremely useful in terms of initial encounters with police/policing and is extremely anti-snitch (which is a very good position to take, IMHO). I certainly wouldn't suggest reading it as a justification to go on a crime spree, but reading it certainly at least will give you some pointers for going through interviews and (if it comes to it) the trial process that can help you reduce the amount of time you will, hopefully, have to spend in lockup. Finally, the book is slightly dated (published in 1994 without updates since), so if yr intent is to use the book to help with legal problems you have become entangled with, i would certainly suggest looking into changes in various sentencing laws in yr homestate (and also if you live in a 3 strikes state and other relevant information).

ACAB

[Wes Hazard · Rating 3 out of 5]

File under "Books I've Read Based on Title Alone"

This book's main message is that you don't want to get arrested…you really don't want to get convicted…and you really really do NOT want to go to prison. Based on what's contained in here I would advise heeding the warning. Should you however find yourself locked up, this book tries its best to offer you some practical and honest advice. If you've seen The Shawshank Redemption or watched more than a few episodes of HBO's "OZ" much of this will be "old news" to you (don't accept any favors or goods without expecting to have to pay for it in some way, be prepared to fight if necessary [it probably will be], NEVER snitch, etc.) but these are all lessons that bear repeating.

At the end of the day I doubt any book is going to offer sufficient preparation for the shock of being stripped of your freedom and thrown into a filthy hyper-violent environment, but I think this offers some solid, baseline, common sense advice that might at least save you some headache. Written with blunt/wry humor and a healthy contempt for the state forces of "justice" this manual offers a lot of lessons that will probably provide some general help in life outside of a cage too (do for yourself, always keep an eye out for opportunity, recognize there's no free lunch, etc). A quick and easy read that will definitely keep you interested, regardless of its practicality in the big house. After reading you'll really really hope you never have to use anything you might learn here, but hey, as this book makes clear: some prep is a hell of a lot better than none.

[Chloe]

the movie let's go to prison is based on this book