Lessons from Prison

by Justin M. Paperny

In Lessons from Prison, former Bear Stearns & UBS stockbroker Justin Paperny humanizes the importance of ethics. His narrative walks through the low road in moral decision making, and explains how federal prison led him to recalibrate his life.

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Greg Chabala · Rating 1 out of 5]

Few pages, big print. For a book that contained so few words, it was entirely too large. The author was at one point a highly paid stockbroker, yet the prose was simple, and often repetitive in its message. The writing is so bland and direct as to remind one of a grade school writing assignment. You could argue that the text was kept simple to make it more accessible to those headed to prison, but that argument is weak.

Did I learn something about minimum security prison? Yes. And there were interesting anecdotes of others prison experiences as well. I'll probably feel less stigma if I'm speaking with someone who's been incarcerated than I would have previously. But too much of the book was self pity about the past, or navel-gazing about the author's plan to live a better life after prison thanks to his adjustment.

[Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book and I learned a lot about our criminal justice system and the people who are confined. I think its admirable that the author is so open with his mistakes and shares them in order for others to learn from him. I liked the style of this book as well. I have also read, Ethics in motion from the same author.