This is a remarkable collection of stories, poems, and real life experiences, written by the men and women incarcerated in the world's most populous penal system: United States prisons.

Each year, the PEN American Center welcomes submissions for prisoners: short stories, essays, poetry, and prose. Over 25 years of winning entries make up this book, which runs the gamut from coarse to majestic. The subject matter is, at turns, heartbreaking and haunting, infuriating and insightful.

The collection is broken into thematic sections, focusing on such topics as Race, Family, Getting Out, Prison Work, Routines, Prison Initiations, and Death Row. Each section is teed up with an introductory preface that frames up the topics and the subsequent writings. This made it easy to take the book in smaller bites, which is good because at times the stories became a bit overwhelming and I needed a bit of a break before reengaging.

This book will - I believe - give you a much stronger sense of what life inside the razor wire is like. I came to empathize with many of the men and women who shared their stories, be the writings fact or fiction. These stories humanize those often marginalized as inhuman. They put you inside the walls and allow you to feel the frustration, fear, rage, grace, hope, and hopelessness that accompany inmates each moment of every day.

This collection is a rough ride - no punches are pulled about how violent, dehumanizing, or profane prison life can be. But it's a rewarding read, with writing that relies on authenticity as a cornerstone. Whether terse or elegant, these stories and poems feel as if they come from the heart: hardened hearts, broken hearts, open hearts. ( )

This is an anthology of prison writing submitted to a writing competition for inmates over the course of 25 years. All sorts of stuff: poetry, short stories, short memoirs. There were a few stories that were worth reading and thought provoking, but not all of it was. ( )