The Reformatory : Tales from Green Bay's Maximum Security Prison

by Joe Verdegan

Green Bay native Joe Verdegan spent nearly 27 years working the front lines as an officer at Green Bay Correctional Institution - one of three maximum-security prisons located in Wisconsin. Verdegan provides a most unique perspective of the often unpredictable and volatile world where an officer can earn his or her salary in less than 30 seconds responding to everything from gang-related brawls, staff assaults, suicide and escape attempts and everything in between. Working inside a maximum-security prison is the furthest thing from any 9-5 job and through his interviews with more than 150 past and current prison employees, Verdegan tells the real-life stories that will make you laugh and cry.

183 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 3, 2020

Reviews

[Leah Cramer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't even finish it bc of all the grammatical errors, disjointed organization, and flippant treatment of people. I get that these prison workers must have been desensitized to their environment and that a lot of the men in that prison did terrible things, but I could not find joy or even entertainment reading about some of the "jokes" played on the inmates. I was hoping for a more cohesive picture of what it was like working in a prison, but instead got a bunch of pieced together ramblings from tons of people I couldn't even begin to keep straight or differentiate.

[Jeff Pederson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the type of book that is hard to put down. Joe has a keen knack for drawing the reader in with his easy-to-digest, journalistic style of writing. This book details many harrowing stories and experiences related to Joe’s experience as a correctional officer at the Green Bay Correctional Institution in Allouez, Wisconsin. The content is definitely not for the faint of heart, but certainly keeps the reader riveted from beginning to end.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having worked at GBCI for almost 3 years and with the author, I can say Joe does a great job portraying some of the struggles and better moments of prison work. It was fun to read some of the stories that I'd heard being told as legend in the cell blocks and it was also interesting knowing some of the things he left out. Some of the grammatical errors made it a little clumsy of a read but the gold is in the stories and he does a good job painting a picture of the things happening at GBCI.

[Jeanne Biebel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to learn what it is like from a CO on the inside and how things have changed over time. There were a ton of typos in the book, and I kept wanting to correct all the mistakes.

[Ryan Wozniak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was a very interesting book