[.ca] The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison (ISBN 0553560239)

Excellent book!:
I am the Director of the Criminal Justice Department at Dodge City Community College, and this book is required reading for my Intro to Corrections course. The book is one of the few that describes the life of the inmates, the staff, and the warden. Most books are written by inmates, and only describes their experiences, or they are written by wardens, and it only describes their careers. I have re-read this book many times, and still find it interesting. I receive good feedback every semester from the students who say thet are glad they read it. I have read many of Earley's book and this one is my favorite!

Occasionally Engaging, Often Tiresome:
As a fan of both books about prison and the author, I was understandably excited about reading this book. I maintained that excitement until I was about three quarters of the way through, and then I realized that I really didn't care for plot elements that involved Warden Matthews and the prison guards. If there's one thing I learned from this book it's that begin the warden of a U.S. Prison is just as exciting as working in the General Services Administration. On the other hand, I found the stories about the inmates to be fascinating. The book is worth reading if only for the chapters on inmate Silverstein, who has been on "no human contact" orders since he was convicted of killing a guard at Marion in the 1980's. Silverstein is a sort of prison culture icon: he lives in a cell where the lights are on 24 hours a day and nobody is allowed to talk to him except a pyschologist who's job (apparently) is to ensure that he doesn't go nuts. I did notice that the author did not seem to interview a single African American inmate. All of the profiled inmates are white. I don't understand how you could spend two years in Leavenworth and not interview a single black inmate. I mean, this is the United States prison system we're talking about.

Mandatory read:
Excellent book. If you want to know exactly what prison is all about, this is the book to read. You'll find that prison is not only as bad as the horror stories you've always heard about- its much worse. This book is enlightening, and shows the brutality of the US Prison system. People in there are (being)warped beyond repair, and shows why the prison system is a revolving door. Treat people like animals (whether deserved or not) and thats what you will end up with. Animals. There has got to be a more humane way of doing this...otherwise, we all will be victimised again and again by these convicts when they are eventually released. And most of them will be.

GREAT READ FOR TRUE CRIME FANS!!!:
Too bad I misplaced my 1st copy! Just purchased again and will read this book for the second time. It was very well written and had me glued to it's pages the first time I read it years ago, I just had to read it again!

An educational read of real life in prison:
I read this book as part of a bookclub I belong to at my college.(I'm a law and criminal justice major) Having known a couple of people who went to prison, and having kept up coorespondence with them, I can testify that this is well worth the read. I've heard many simular accounts that could have been added to this book from my correspondence, as well as, understand those I spoke with in a much better way. If you want to truly understand what life is like in prison, from a correctional officer's viewpoint or an inmate's, this book is a must!