Rating: 
Summary: Just the facts ma'am
Review: Not a lot of opinion or interpretation. Humorous, but mostly factual. A very interesting perspective.
Rating: 
Summary: A profound literary achievement by a genius journalist!
Review: When I first read about this book in EW's Best of the Year issue, I was curious. In movies, again and again, we hear the stories of compassionate, wrongly accused inmates (I personally love the moving film the Shawshank Redemption). So when Ted Conover chose to write about his own experience as a guard, a seemingly simple, yet genius point of view, I was very interested. In reading Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing, I was educated, entertained and challenged. Conover vividly shares his experiences as well as interesting facts about America's prison system. I laughed (his writing reminds me of Bill Bryson a little, author of A Walk in the Woods) and I reflected throughout the book. No words other than Conover's can explain the profound impact and wonderful quality of Newjack. I loved it and have read it several times since.
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Summary: Rare, balanced glimpse into life as an officer at Sing Sing
Review: I found this book to be extremely balanced and fair in its reporting, and at no time demonstrated any bias towards correction officers nor inmates.First of all, Conover should be praised for his dedication to the subject matter. Not many journalists would subject themselves to correction officer boot camp AND a whole year of working at Sing Sing just to get a story. Was it wrong for him to have deceived the prison system that way? My only answer to that would be that in a democracy like ours, an institution that gobbles up so much of the taxpayers' money and yet insist on absolute secrecy as to their methods can only expect something like this happen sooner or later. The public has the right to know at least the general process and the results of that process. I personally did not get a sense of Conover being on the side of the inmates. In fact, if that were the case I would have been extremely turned off, as I am one of those who believe that many prisoners are there as consequences of what THEY chose to do. Conover was very careful to be fair to both sides of the story. I finished the book with a much higher respect for correctional officers. I was enlightened as to the amount of danger, frustrations and abuse that they endure on a daily basis. In fact, after reading this book, I feel that correctional officers should get more than what they're currently paid! Why would certain officers object to this book? How did the author "betray" them? (Interestingly enough, some of the worst critics of this book are the individuals that weren't portrayed in the best light in the narrative.) As far as the inmates go, Conover relates his experiences and conversations with several notable ones who have struck an impression on him. He doesn't, at any time, make excuses for them. In fact, I appreciated the fact that he admits in certain parts of the book about wanting to punch a few of those that were especially troublesome and annoying. (At one point, after an especially nerve-wrecking episode with the inmates, he also fantasized about the entire block burning up in flames.) This may sound disturbing to some of us, but I doubt that any of us WOULDN'T think these thoughts if we were placed in a similar situation. He doesn't try to appear to be the perfect, inscrutable officer, and is very much himself throughout the entire process. Telling the readers his true emotions added a lot to the narrative. Conover has made a valuable contribution to the literature concerning our prisons. He doesn't claim to be writing about the entire system, nor its pros and cons, but merely about HIS experiences during a year at Sing Sing. In doing so, he has produced a highly convincing and readable piece of work that has more impact than one written about the system in general by an outsider who has only stepped into a prison for interviews. Highly recommended for all!
Rating: 
Summary: A little more journalism, a little less commentary, please.
Review: There's a lot to admire in this book: It gives us what feels like an authentic look at a world most of us will never know (thank God!), it is often riveting, some of the vignettes are fascinating, and there's no denying Conover's guts. But it left me a little cold. Maybe it's the nature of the beast, but Conover's writing is all over the map. It might have been more interesting if he followed a narrative, or at least focused on a few COs and inmates instead of a scattershot approach. It seemed that Conover spent a year on the inside-and came away with very few insider stories & anecdotes. And a long section on the history of Sing Sing and incarceration in the US is just plain boring. I could do without his moralizing too. A little more journalism, a little less commentary, please.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: Whats the best way to write about something so little of us really know anything about? But to actually enter the system itself and expeirence what a correctional officer goes through day in and day out. This is a must have for anyone who is interested in becomming a correctional officer or anyone who is interested in the prison system.
Rating:
Summary: "I'm telling you , I don't get no respect"
Review: This is a great book. Conover deserves all the alcolades he has received for proving that there is more than one way to skin a cat. If you can't interview them, join them. Connover wanted to tell the story of the Corrections Officers, the Rodney Dangerfields of our society who get no respect, not from their charges, and not from Society at large. To a large part, he succceds. One personal note, some reviewers have called Conover a "liberal," as if it were a dirty word, and accused him of siding with the inmates against the CO's. They obviously did not read the same book I did.
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Summary: Chaos at Sing Sing
Review: Conover's account of the NY state prison system was more shocking than absorbing to me. To see how unstructured and undisciplined life at Sing Sing is not only perturbing, but makes me think of a striking parallel to the lack of discipline in our education system. While the subject matter is great, I found Conover's style of writing a bit on the dry side.
Rating:
Summary: Great book but what is with prison
Review: AS I read Newjack I was overwelmed by what was said about how the inmates were treated. Ted Conover m.akes prison seem more like something that will cause offenders to recommit a crime than help. There should be a jail for life offenders and a jail for offenders who will eventually be let out. Once leaving prison, there should be some kind of assistance program for the prisoners. In this assistance program the prisoners should be given state jobs to help ease them into the life outside. Second not only should there be a parole officer, but support groups for the prisoners. Prisoners should not feel like outcasts when they leave jail, because they have done their time, but possibly to help them and the people around them the groups should support them to apologize to the people they have hurt and effected.
While in Jail rather than a life of total punishment, they should be taught vocational jobs in order to help them while in jail. By doing this they will feel less inclined to go out and commit a crime.
This is probobly one of the best insight books I have ever read, because it leaves you with opinions and is filled with plenty of variety.
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Summary: brave & poignant rendition of grueling prison life
Review: Ted Conover relates his brave and poignant foray into the underbelly of the New York Correctional facility SING SING. I felt empathy for his incredible feat: he clearly identifies and offers suggestions for a burgeoning problem within our "rehabilitative" system. He believes (righteously so) that our prison facilities offer no forms of deterrence, restitution, or rehabilitation for the inmates. Conover discloses that what our system does is basically infuriate the already incensed inmates, causing their tempers to flare both inside the prison and upon their re-immersion into society. Thus once they are released, and having lost the sustenance for hope in building a future for themselves, the inmates turn once again towards violence, theft, etc. This book created an awareness for me, one that wishes that I, too, could volunteer my services in assisting those who need help. Newjack brings to light a major decay in our justice system. With care and effort on the part of humanity, we could efficiently rehabilitate inmates and guide them towards some sort of salvation of their lives.
Rating:
Summary: Great writing disguises boredom of prison life
Review: Newjack is a fine work about the author's year as a correction officer in famous, infamous, Sing Sing prison in New York. What Ted Conover has uncovered, as other authors about prisons have -- especially Pete Earley -- is that prison life is extremely dull (not that I've experienced it), which explains why Newjack is only peppered with interesting incidents instead of being an action-packed saga of life in prison. The most fascinating points of this book are Conover's dialogues with pseudointellectual lifers about the nature of imprisonment. One con says, aptly, that we should stop planning ahead to build prisons for tomorrow's children, instead spending that money on social programs to prevent those children from going to prison in the first place. Idealistic, yes, but still pertinent, especially coming from a con. As he says, it's too late for him, but save the children. Conover's plan, to live and work as a correction officer for a year then to quit to write about it, was slightly flawed, I think. Conover knows there's an escape for him, so he becomes ever more upbeat as his last few days approach. If he knew he was in for the long term, I doubt he'd be so upbeat. I would think his attitude would differ from that of most correction officers. In that aspect, I'd rather read a book from the point of view of a lifelong guard, or, even better, from a literate prisoner. The historical aspects of this book, especially the minihistory of the electric chair and corporal punishment, are excellent, though slightly out of place. Still, I enjoyed the history as an aside. All around a solid read. Check out Pete Earley's The Hot House for another insider's (yet still an outsider's) viewpoint of life in prison (this time Leavenworth).
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