Just wanted to pass the word that the book I have been working on for many years has been published.  It is "Decades Behind Bars: A Twenty-Year Conversation with Men in America's Prisons." It is the result of a study I did following fifty men in Louisville area prisons over a twenty year period, focusing on the seventeen who remain incarcerated. I hope to generate a discussion of the criminal justice system. It is written using the words of the offenders themselves but is balanced with conversations with administrators, officers, etc. It is written to appeal to the interest of the general public.  I'm not concerned about making money, just in getting the conversations started. It has discussion questions designed for groups.  It is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ebooks, and the publisher. McFarland.  If you read it, I hope you find it thought-provolking.

What a neat topic, Gaye. What made you decide to write this book a long time ago?  A great idea, by the way.  And you followed the stories for so many years which should make it a very interesting read. That's a pretty hot topic these days. I shall look for this book. Thanks for the info.  (I don't often, almost never actually, get on this site. And I still think often of so many of our classmates. )

Peggy, thanks for the interest. I spent many years coordinating a college program in all the area prisons. I had complete access to the inmates. In 1994 thought it would make a good book. Got a sabbatical, permission from Corrections but never got it in publishable form. Twenty years later was thinking about some of the men,

looked them up,and this evolved. I think back on high school years and wonder about people I haven't seen. Might be a book there! :-)

they have already written a screenplay about my life ... everything that happened in American Grafitti happened to me lol

Well, Cliff,  You might read the book with a great sense of relief as to what might have been!  Glad your life was interesting but not tragic.  

I'm told "Decades Behind Bars" will be featured in LEO at the end of September. You may want to pick up a copy to see what I've been doing the past years.

I don't want to pester you to death about my book Decades Behind Bars. But for those of you in Louisville you might want to pick up a LEO this week. My book is featured as the cover story and they have reprinted the intro, preface, and chapter one in the paper. If you find it interesting you can get a copy from the library and of course all the usual purchase places.

For those out of town, you can read it on LEOs Facebook page but it won't have the graphics. I am not concerned about sales- I just want to get the conversation started. Also, if you come to the Ky Book Fair, come by my table. It would be nice to see you after all these years.