Criminal Justice Through the Looking Glass: Everything You Need to Know That Your Lawyer Won't Tell You- A Step-by-Step Guide to Surviving Jail and Prison from Arrest Through Appeals

by Daniel Teitelbaum

A brutally honest, darkly funny, and deeply practical guide to surviving the American criminal justice system — written by someone who lived it. Think Just Mercy meets Catch 22 inside a Kafkaesque bureaucracy that grinds people down long before a verdict is ever reached.

When Daniel Teitelbaum was arrested, he discovered what millions learn too late: the system is not designed to protect you, inform you, or treat you fairly. Lawyers don’t tell you everything. Judges don’t see you. Prosecutors don’t care about you. And the process itself is engineered to confuse, exhaust, and break you at every stage.

This book is the antidote.

Drawing from firsthand experience, Teitelbaum exposes how the system actually works — not the version on TV, not the version your lawyer describes, and definitely not the version the courts pretend exists. With sharp humor, philosophical insight, and unfiltered candor, he walks readers through arrest, arraignment, plea negotiations, trial, sentencing, jail, prison, appeals, and the psychological toll that shadows each step.

Part memoir, part survival manual, part indictment of a system that punishes the poor, the unprepared, and the unlucky, this book gives readers what no attorney ever will: the truth, the strategy, and the mindset required to survive.

Whether you’re facing charges, supporting someone who is, working in the system, or simply trying to understand how justice in America really functions, this book pulls back the curtain with precision, humanity, and a voice that refuses to look away.

246 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 9, 2025

About the author

Doctor Teitelbaum has a BS in Electrical Engineering, a BA in Painting, and a PhD in Engineering and Public Policy. He has served 28 months in county jail and over ten years in state prison. He has worked as a management consultant, a statistician, a legal clerk, a writing instructor, and a professional poker player. Dr. Teitelbaum is very much like a cup of yogurt that has exceeded its expiration date: most people would throw him away, but he is actually still quite tasty!

He has training in economics, psychology, statistics, risk analysis, and decision making under uncertainty. He has published one article in a peer-reviewed journal called Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory.

Correspondence:

Daniel Teitelbaum A699663

North Central Correctional Complex (NCCC)

OPMC 884 Coitsville-Hubbard Rd

Youngstown, OH 44505

You can also reach him through the GTL Getting Out app in the Google Play or Apple app stores, or by email at: CriminalJusticeThroughTheGlass@gmail.com

Reviews

[Vivian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Criminal Justice Through the Looking Glass is one of the most striking examinations of the legal system I have ever encountered. Dr. Daniel Teitelbaum writes with rare authority—not as an outside observer or academic theorist, but as someone who has experienced the system from the inside. His perspective is courageous, unfiltered, and deeply illuminating.

The book brilliantly blends exposé, dark humor, and philosophical reflection. Teitelbaum challenges every comforting assumption we hold about justice, fairness, and due process. He walks readers step-by-step through each stage of the criminal justice pipeline, revealing a world where “rights” exist more in textbooks than in practice, and where defendants are swept through courtrooms that operate more like factories than pillars of law.

Yet despite its serious themes, the tone is remarkably engaging. Teitelbaum’s wit makes even the darkest truths digestible. His anecdotes, satirical commentary, and straightforward explanations transform complex legal concepts into something every reader can understand.

A powerful must-read. This book completely changed the way I see the American legal system. I’ve already recommended it to friends, colleagues, and fellow nonfiction lovers. If you care about justice, you need this book.

[Larktim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a pragmatic and distinctly compelling read — stark, sardonically witty, dismaying yet inspiring in its fortitude, insightful and sometimes laugh-aloud funny. I consumed it in 2 sittings and it will stick with me. (Appreciated the music and literary gems sprinkled throughout the footnotes, too!)