Rating: 
Summary: superb
Review: This book is daring, unusual, and--though I have never worked in a prison--seems to me exceptionally fair. Few writers have the chops to go this far in service to a subject. And it's a wonderful, fast read, unlike anything I've seen.
Rating: 
Summary: Supermax CO
Review: I liked some of the book. Ted gets a bit to liberal for my taste. I work at the only security level VI prison in Michigan, and I would unemployed if I passed out cigarettes. As far as the death penalty goes, I am unfortunate enough to work in a state that does not use the death penalty, nor do we carry sticks, and we have to jump through hoops to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon for personal protection. Nobody wants to see an innocent person put to death, but try to manage an inmate who is on LOP (loss of privileges) until 2020, that's doing life and will tell you to your face they'll kill you if they get the chance, they have already killed prison staff, stabbed and assaulted others. We don't have anything left to use as punishment and the reward that comes with a lower security level doesn't entice them. Some of the more kinder, gentler reviewers of this book would like to eliminate prisons all together, I know some inmates doing LIFE without parole who'll be lookin' for a place stay. Anyone got a spare bedroom? I didn't think so! As far as rehabilitation goes, the inmates who want to change their lives already have a rough road being convicted felons, but the education and rehabilitative programs are there. Nobody can make someone rehabilitate, they have to want to change. If there was a way to make people change I'd be all for it, but there isn't. My job is to protect the public, and locking dangerous people is how we keep the predators from roaming the quiet countryside.
Rating:
Summary: This guy should get a lot of credit ...
Review: The oficer who said that only the liberal media, whatever that is, will appreciate this book, is wrong. I think any professional who agrees that only the light of day will lift us out of the swamp of stereotype will praise this book. Anyone who has worked in a real prison will know that this book is dead on. It's not the truth exactly as some of us would paint it, but let's face it, the what goes on in corrections should stay in corrections attitude is a lot of what our problem is today. Where's the pride in that? To say he's a rat is to say we have dirty secrets that nobody else should know. I say baloney. Do you realize that most people out there think that "guards" are brutal?That's the starting point. Conover uses the word guard, sure, but so does thre rest of the world, and he says officer more. And the point is, he was one and he respects what we go through and the pressure we face. COs are LUCKY to have this book--there won't soon be another that outsiders will BUY that attests to the humanity of those of us who wear the uniform.!!!
Rating: 
Summary: This Book is Garbage
Review: I was excited when I first bought "Newjack". I thought that finally someone had written an accurate book about being a Correction Officer.But what I had found is that this book was written by a liberal journalist, who loves convicted felons but dislikes and looks down upon Correction Officers . . . opps I mean "guards" as Ted Conover likes to say. Not surprisingly, the liberal press loves this book and the inmate loving rat author. They cite his "courage" for going into a prison to get the "real story". This isn't a surprise, though. This self-glamorizing rat is a parrot of the liberal media. Mr. Conover, us lowly "guards" are sorry that we don't meet your high standards of human perfection. You are such a model human being, it makes us jealous. Actually, maybe Ted Conover should become Inmate Conover, since he loves inmates/criminals so much. Maybe he should be inmate for a year and write a really good book. Of course, Ted would be the first to want a burglar, who broke into his home to be sent away to prison. Or if one of his beloved inmate buddies, hurt a member of his family, he would almost certainly want that person to be severely punished. But no other victim's should receive such justice, in Ted's eyes. Read this garbage book, only if you want to read the liberal parroting of a rich journalist, who loves criminals and hates law enforcement officers.
Rating:
Summary: Must-read for anyone interested in penalogy
Review: Ted Conover's book is another look into the life and culture of prison. However, it differs from a lot of jail narratives as it's written from the guard's perspective. The sense I got from this book only strengthens a view I've held for some time: prisons -- rather, the current state of them -- demean and dehumanize convicts and guards alike. And since we seem to be blindly enamored of using prison as a be-all cure for most offenses, I'm increasingly concerned that we're going to demean our society as well. As a mere account of the prison experience -- and from a man who was able to go home at the end of a shift, rather than a cell --, it's riveting. It's also written very well, bringing Sing Sing's decaying walls and populace to life for the reader. If nothing else, Conover presents a window into what must be one of the hardest (and worst, and dangerous) jobs in society.
Rating:
Summary: A Expose by a Rat
Review: Ted Conover is a rat. What goes on in a correctional institution should stay in a correctional institution. This liberal inmate loving rat broke that fundamental rule. Plus, he is a sorry journalist.
Rating:
Summary: Newjack:Guarding Sing Sing
Review: As a correctional officer I am always looking for a good book written by someone on the right side of the bars. Ted Conover hit it right on the button. It does not matter what prison you work in, you will find this book fits your institution in some way. Ted Conover went through the ins and outs of being an officer and depicted the stress C/O's go through on a daily basis. He starts out with the stress of being in this awful place where they house the worst of humanity. This is a scary idea for anyone to deal with. Then he realized that they are human and that some of them, even though they are inmates, are not that bad to talk to. After working a year with inmates every day, Conover goes through emotions that most C/O's go through. This would inculde the stress that it puts on the family situation. I am not a book reviewer but I am a correctional officer and I would recommend this book for anyone who is a C/O or thinking of becoming one. This is an excellent read!!
Rating:
Summary: Doing Time at Sing Sing...
Review: A person needs to have a certain determination to do what author Ted Conover did: take a year out from one's life to go undercover and put one's neck on the line, literally. Investigative journalist Conover took a big risk - his career, his family life, and even his life - to get the scoop on what life is like inside New York State's infamous Sing-Sing Prison... from a Correctional Officer's point of view. It makes for a most fascinating read. Ted had tried the traditional route to get inside and have a look at life from behind bars, his target being the notorious Sing-Sing Penetentiary. However, he soon discovered that the media is not a welcome bunch and the stalwart institution (like all other max-security prisons throughout the country) makes sure that the press never get inside to have a peek. Not one to give up easily (and smelling a real story), Conover came up with the plan to go in undercover, as it were, as a legitimate, bona-fide, State-trained Correctional Officer. And that is just what he did. He went the route of CO training - a boot camp of sorts, a rough ride indeed - finding it very demanding and obtuse. Still, he persevered to the end, graduated, and waited for his call-up. He didn't have to wait long. The turnover rate of COs is high, and the inaugural training ground for almost all COs in the State of New York is the infamous prison he was targeting. The book, NewJack: Guarding Sing Sing is the chronicle of Conover's year (he dedicated an entire year to experience the fulness of the prison experience) as a CO at the institution. The contents of the book are, in many ways, not surprising. Life is hard behind bars, for inmates and COs alike. There is a palpable aggression, a frustration at the procedures, and the interaction between inmate and prison guard (errrr, sorry, correctional officer), inmate and inmate, and CO and CO is perpetually tense and suspicious. Those who are crime or psychology buffs will dig their teeth into this read and come away satisfied. Conover has done an outstanding job of revealing what everyday life - on the job and in the cell - is all about at Sing Sing. He gives wonderful description of the compound itself and what living conditions are really like inside. His historical account of the raising and implementing of the prision is, in itself, worth buying the book. As well, he's done a great job on revealing the personality of Sing Sing - from the inception of the place right up to present day. It's an institution that has a rich and varied history, if not pristine and stellar. Sing Sing is a bastion of punishment, not all of it good or right or noble, and Conover has documented and presented such with a pretty fair stroke of the pen. Though I found his commentary on the prison population a little heavy-handed and hyperbolic on occasion, I'm sure that couldn't be helped when the man was laying his life on the line everyday, going in to control the masses. He did, however, paint a fair picture of the life of a CO on the inside and outside. It's a hard job, and it has hard men and women occupying it. And Conover made it to the end of the year. He survived the job, in all its quirks, and has given the rest of us on the outside a very rare glimpse at what life is like on the inside. And what a unique perspective it is, too. I recommend this book to one and all who want to explore penology from a more relaxed, less academic, view and accounting. Great read, start to finish.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read
Review: I had the honor of meeting Ted Conover during a lecture to my American Civilization class. Fortunately, our professor is a longtime friend of Ted's and was able to convince him to speak to our class during his book tour for "Newjack." The first thing you notice is how slight he is. Ted Conover is probably 5'8" and weighs around 160 pounds. Hardly the image of a big, tough correctional officer. He is also exceptionally articulate, able to express thoughts, feelings and impressions better than anyone I have ever listened to. Having met him before reading "Newjack" was a rare pleasure because it added a context to the book that most readers never get. "Newjack" is as much about Ted as it is about prison. It is about how a self professed liberal is changed by his surroundings. It is about a man's journey into his inner self. It is about a man confronting the fear and predudice that resides in all of us, and trying to come to terms with it. It is also about the American justice system (good and bad) and those on each side of the bars. If you don't read this book you are missing a rare opportunity to glimpse inside the deep underbelly of the American Experiment.
Rating:
Summary: A footsoldier's view of prison
Review: Most serious books about prisons are written by academicians and administrators. This book is a different, accurate, and refreshing view from the prison's inside, day-to-day operations. Rarely does one see prison life from the viewpoint of the footsoldier. Conover shows the corrections officer as only the tail end of the whip, driven by politics and endless bureaucracy. Conover follows his own daily life of the prison guard, including his personal contacts with both inmates and co-workers,pointing out the shortcomings, frustrations and even the few successes of the entire penal system. For 10 years I was a full-time prison psychologist and can attest to Conover's compelling conclusion that rehabilitation is the last thought on the minds of either the courts, the legislatures, or even the prison staff itself. It seems that the penal system has resigned itself to the position that prisons are de facto holding and aging pens for the refuse of humanity, out of sight and mind of the public. Anyone who works inside corrections will soon find that this is a frustrating and endless profession. Three cheers for Conover. This book should be required reading for any, sociology, criminology, or law student.
|
