Lauren Kessler has written a truly remarkable book that shares the world of incarcerated folks from an unbiased perspective. She shows their humanity by detailing the stories of six specific individuals that she got to know and work with during her prison work.

She shares not only their stories but lots of well researched and documented statistics and facts on the prison industrial complex in the US, mental health issues of those incarcerated, flaws within the criminal justice system, the importance & benefits of restorative justice, and the causes & contributing factors of recidivism.

If you go into reading this with a negative view of the incarcerated, this book will show you a much different aspect that might just change your mind about those that have criminal records. The author does this by exploring the real world struggles and behind the scenes good, bad, and absolutely heartbreaking stories of these people who are human beings just like everyone else but who are caught in a system that is not built for their success once they are released.

Many are traumatized at such an early age right before they even enter the system which often times sets off violent, impulsive behavior that can lead to getting in trouble and being arrested.

Incarceration doesn’t make things much better for these individuals, but many as the author shows, beat the odds by getting their diplomas and degrees while inside and working with groups to improve themselves that try to heal the harm they’ve done through restorative justice work.

But we have to give them a chance while inside and after release. Continuing to treat them subhuman and like criminals only perpetuates the problem. This book is an eye opener for sure of which I highly recommend!

RATING: 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Netgalley, publisher and author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mesmerizing and informative story of how our prison system fails to rehabilitate good people who got themselves into tough circumstances. I’m asking both my teenage children to read this book to enlighten them. I was hooked right away on both the writing style and the stories.

Thanks to Sourcebooks, I was provided an ARC of Free by Lauren Kessler via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Publishing April 19, 2022

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Lauren Kessler chronicles the lives of prisoners who spent anywhere from 2 years to over 20 years in prison and then are released. Sometimes it’s not always easy as they have no choice, but to go back to where they come from, which leads to bad habits forming again. Not everyone who leaves the prison system are prepared or have the means for a productive life. They often are re-incarcerated.

What struck me was when Lauren described Belinda as a 40 year old in a teenage body because time had passed, but she hadn’t had life experiences to mature and grow as a person. This can hinder the re-entry into life outside of prison. Also what stuck me is not all states have re-entry programs or if they have them they are underfunded. What does it mean to be free? Are the former prisoners ever free? Their crime often follows them for life making it hard to get housing, jobs, etc? Also not only dealing with road blocks,but mental health. It’s a journey that’s not always supported by the community they live in. This book sheds light on the problems of re-entry after prison and the changes that need to be made.

An eye opening book on the issues surrounding the release from prison and what issues they face with re-entry. Success isn’t impossible, but easier if you have a support network already in place when released. Perfect book for book clubs!

I feel like this is a book the majority of Americans should read. Kessler really immerses herself into the lives of the six prisoners she chronicles, both before their release, and as they navigate reentry into society. The book is engrossing to read (ie NOT a dry boring non-fiction). I'm a former prosecutor, and this book really made me think about what kinds of programs we SHOULD be offering in prisons.

5 percent of the millions of American men and women who go to prison eventually get out. What happens to them?

There's Arnoldo, who came of age inside a maximum security penitentiary, now free after nineteen years. Trevor and Catherine, who spent half of their young lives behind bars for terrible crimes committed when they were kids. Dave, inside the walls for 34 years, now about to reenter an unrecognizable world. Vicki, a five-time loser who had cycled in and out of prison for more than a third of her life. They are simultaneously joyful and overwhelmed at the prospect of freedom. Anxious, confused, sometimes terrified, and often ill-prepared to face the challenges of the free world, all are intent on reclaiming and remaking their lives.

What is the road they must travel from caged to free? How do they navigate their way home?

A gripping and empathetic work of immersion reportage, FREE reveals what awaits them and the hundreds of thousands of others who are released from prison every year: the first rush of freedom followed quickly by institutionalized obstacles and logistical roadblocks, grinding bureaucracies, lack of resources, societal stigmas and damning self-perceptions, the sometimes overwhelming psychological challenges. Veteran reporter Lauren Kessler, both clear-eyed and compassionate, follows six people whose diverse stories paint an intimate portrait of struggle, persistence, and resilience.

The truth—the many truths—about life after lockup is more interesting, more nuanced, and both more troubling and more deeply triumphant than we know.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Whew! This book makes me ache for what our country could be if we approached the criminal justice system in a different way.

Kessler has gathered a collection of stories from six incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals in their quest to rejoin society. She begins each of them with an explanation of their crimes, but also the complexities and abuse that most likely led to them. Each person is narrated in such a compassionate, human way, it is impossible not to feel for each of them. Kessler has treated them with care and makes a strong argument for better practices.

While race was a strong part of this work, I would have appreciated a bit more on how the criminal justice system is a hold over from slavery as well as a money=making machine. Either way, however, it is clear from her narrative that something must be done to ease the formerly incarcerated back into society because it literally benefits EVERYONE.

I recommend to anyone who enjoys narrative nonfiction, but is particularly interested in the criminal justice system in America.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Free by Lauren Kessler, wow. Everyone should read this to learn about the criminal justice system and the experiences of those who have been through it. This gives you an in-depth look at the prison system and the challenges presented to those who have been incarcerated and are ready to acclimate to life outside. Reading the stories opened my eyes to something I (thankfully) know very little about.

Synopsis:

95 percent of the millions of American men and women who go to prison eventually get out. What happens to them?

There’s Arnoldo, who came of age inside a maximum-security penitentiary, now free after nineteen years. Trevor and Catherine, who spent half of their young lives behind bars for terrible crimes committed when they were kids. Dave, inside the walls for 34 years, now about to reenter an unrecognizable world. Vicki, a five-time loser who had cycled in and out of prison for more than a third of her life. They are simultaneously joyful and overwhelmed at the prospect of freedom. Anxious, confused, sometimes terrified, and often ill-prepared to face the challenges of the free world, all are intent on reclaiming and remaking their lives.

Very interesting book and gave me a new perspective!

Out on April 12.

I love narrative nonfiction, but I felt that the author was just too close to these folks and her biases were standing in the way of these individuals seeming human, flawed and dynamic. She was too much a part of the story. The information about restorative justice was interesting. I also would have focused more on just two of the folks and left the others in less detail.

I'd love to say this story was an eye opener to the realities of prison/jail. But as a person who has experienced life behind bars, it's a hard pill to swallow. For people who don't understand this life it is absolutely heartbreaking the things people go through just to get their loves back on track after losing so much time.

A very interesting look at how those imprisoned for crimes go through to re-integrate back into society upon their release. Kessler follows several people (both male and female) both as they near the time of their release, and then after. She also shows the hurdles that even those with close friends or family to help them struggle to meet many of the requirements set as part of their release, along with the emotional re-integration that all have to go through.

The people profiled are all successful in staying out of prison, but as Kessler points out, there is more to being successful than simply avoiding jail. She shows the struggles these men and women face, but does not provide answers - after reading this book, it is clear that there are no easy ones. However, as a society, we do need to look at our judicial society, along with what to do to help prevent people from entering it.

Drawn from personal interactions and supporting research Free: Two Years, Six Lives, and the Long Journey Home uses the experiences of six individuals to illuminate the challenges an individual, and sometimes their families undergo, transitioning from prison to freedom. Author and immersive reporter Lauren Kessler writes from both a personal perspective, having served as a sponsor, teacher or friend to the individuals discussed, as well as referencing from the literature of incarceration, statistics, and psychology.

Kessler balances these points offering plenty of evidence that incarceration, particularly for young people, is overwhelming harmful and that in America its focus is on punishment. What this means, and Kessler shows through direct experience, is that there is little in the way for resources or assistance for those whose time has been served to re-enter society. How quickly can one learn to use the internet, a cell-phone, or have personal agency when every decision was made for you?
Through the individuals Kessler has a diverse case study group that helps showcase the racial dimensions that unfairly differentiate treatment and opportunity.

Free having been just released, offers a very contemporary view of prisons. Particularly how COVID was even more impactful on people forced to live communally.

For those who have watched "Orange Is the New Black" this book helps to explain why some of the characters in that show returned so soon either through their own choice or an inability to relearn how to live.

American society has become more dependent on the penal system during the last century. The author, Lauren Kessler, has written a treatise on the value of incarceration and the outcomes of inmates after they leave an Oregon prison. At times, there is opinion mixed into the facts about 6 prisoners who are featured. For the author, it would be difficult to write impartial stories after spending 3 years of her life investigating these people and their prison. There is certainly a wealth of information that I was unaware of. Kudos to the author and the inmates for dedicating themselves to this book.

The crimes range from identity theft to drugs, even murder. There is a person attached to each of these crimes, and many more people affected by them, not to mention the village of assistance after prison release. These stories are a glimpse into the lives of fortunate and unfortunate people during and after their prison release. It’s hard to say if they can truly be “Free”.

What an immersive, powerful read. Lauren Kessler humanizes six former prisoners she has known through her volunteerism holding writing workshops for prisoners, detailing their stories, their time in the prison system, and the highs and lows they face upon reentry. Kessler explores what it means to be free for ex-convicts, from the lack of accessible and stable housing; to being released with a paltry sum ($200 is on the high end—an amount set several decades ago in California); to ongoing ostracism from community (unending punishment after time served); to employment hurdles because of past record (despite education); to the challenges of living with friends and family who may have been part of the problem (e.g. drug addiction); to social connection and romantic relationship struggles; to recidivism (how and why ex-prisoners offend again); and to mounting, murky bureaucratic obstacles.

Kessler also spends time discussing the emotional toll prison takes on self-esteem and agency, which makes the high levels of assertion and determination needed to succeed in an unwelcoming world even less plausible. Too, Kessler touches on race and reentry, and how people of color who are former prisoners often have the worst opportunities and outcomes.

One of the things that sticks with me most is the simulation Kessler describes, where people in a community showed up to a church and for several hours acted out what reentry is like for a prisoner over the course of a week or so, including unforeseen obstacles ex-convicts may face, going from station to station (e.g. DMV, housing authority, bank). Even those who felt confident at first ended up dejected and despondent. They actually had mental health support for the people acting out the simulation. Wow.

Where some other readers seem to feel Kessler has a blind spot to the need for incarceration, I had a different takeaway. Kessler doesn’t argue for or against imprisonment necessarily, but rather points out blatant hypocrisies of the prison system and argues for the need for prisoners who have served their time to be supported during reentry and allowed to live full lives, at least and at most because they are our family and our neighbors, making their lives in our communities. The sentence is handed down, the time is served, and now what? How do newly released prisoners reintegrate with money for a bus fare, no or fraught living arrangements, and little time, know-how, and/or access to navigate bureaucratic obstacles? There are examples of organizations doing the challenging work of helping those facing reentry to navigate and succeed. Even so, Kessler examines how current solutions to reentry are largely piecemeal and, in many places, entirely missing.

Kessler writes compassionately and thoughtfully, marrying the personal with broader issues. I’d recommend this to any reader, especially those who rarely consider this population of people who live and work among us every day and face wildly uneven and undefined paths to life after prison.

Did you know that 95% of people that go to prison are released back into society? Do you ever wonder what happens to them when they do?
I know some of you will be thinking “ they committed some crime that was bad enough to put them in prison , so I don't care what happens to them”
But consider this: When they leave prison, they often leave with LESS life skills than when they went in. Truly.
Imagine for a minute…..you are put in a place that has ridged rules, you have no choices except to do as you are told and when you are told to do it., While you are locked up, new things happen in the world that you do not know about ( Netflix, Hulu, cellphones, no pay phones debit cards, internet….) and then they let you out.
You have the clothes on your back ( That you were wearing when you went in most likely) and you could be handed $20-200 walking money with the requirements that you report to your parole officer, get a job, find a place to live…..just imagine how hard that could be. Do you see why so many go back to prison yet?
This book is a study of mostly successful ex prisoners in order to demonstrate what education and training can do to encourage a successful transition from prison to society…..and it is a compelling argument about how our justice system should change from “ punish “ to “ rehabilitate”
I hope you read it, it is enlightening. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me this reading opportunity.

This book blew me away! I was unable to but it down. Perfect, dazzlingly, very well written. The details the author described throughout the book was so amazing. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

This book was a bit of a surprise to me. I didn't think I would care what happened to murderers in prison or once they got out. However, this book showed me that even murderers might deserve a second chance to have a normal life once they have served the time in prison, especially teenaged murderers.

The true stories about the prisoners highlighted in the book are beyond imagination. The situations that brought them to prison, and their desire to change and be free one day were surprising and compelling. I hoped they would get out of prison and be able to live free. But I learned that life on the outside is very difficult in many ways not obvious to me before.

Through this book, the author gives a good argument for prison reform to give first-time prisoners a better chance to rehabilitate their lives and prepare them for life out in the world. The book also points to good reasons to give teens in prison even more possibilities for reform and rehabilitation, counseling, college credit, and more.

Prisoners themselves would benefit from reading this book. It would show them how they could turn their life around, and what they need to do to increase their chances of surviving out in the world.

This is a worthwhile read. I learned a lot about the "red tape" prisoners face to one day be free. I have gained a better understanding of our prison system in America, and its problems and need for changes.

Definitely an eye opening book. I feel like I learned a lot about the prison system and how it just doesn’t work. Lots of characters felt a bit confusing at times though.

At first i didn't know what to expect from the book so was a little hesitant at first but this book was surprising to say the least. I did enjoy it.

I received this book as an ARC and this is my review. This incredible non-fiction story follows six incarcerated young people as they emerge from, in some cases, several years in prison to , in others, shorter but still difficult sentences. Each case is scrutinized and the outcome is divulged. I found it fascinating but, in some cases, tragic. I totally recommend this book as a study of our legal system as well as a close look at the chaos that can be a result of that system.

Free: Two Years, Six Lives, and the Long Journey Home
by
Lauren Kessler


Extremely eye-opening book – once you’ve read it you realize why recidivism is sadly such a common occurrence. All the stories are so sad and frankly several of the protagonists were born into lives that didn’t offer then much of a chance of anything good ever happening in their lives. It would be very difficult for anyone to restart their lives after being “away” for 30+ years but imagine having to do with no experience with computers, the internet, cell phones, very little education and none of the necessary paperwork to live in today’s society.
Not to mention once again “being in charge” of one’s own life after having every minute regimented during the time in prison. It’s daunting. And very difficult to overcome.

It’s also a very hard-hitting expose of for-profit prisons and why there are more interested in the bottom line than they are in helping their client reinvent their lives in a positive manner.

The author doesn’t sugar coat why the 6 people she featured were in sent to prison but by the end of the book you find yourself cheering for them and hoping that they can beat the odds and make it a new life.

She has an engaging reading style and the book, besides being very informative is also a page turner “Free” should be required reading in every social justice and criminology program.

Many thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of "Free" in return for an honest review.

5 stars
Free
Lauren Kessler
Wow, just wow. This is an utterly fascinating book looking into the lives of youthful offenders, the exceedingly long sentences and their lives after they are released from prison. Kessler expertly draws the reader into the lives of these people, their past, their crimes and the challenges they face.
I truly had no idea how hard it is to re-establish a life that most never had to begin with after going to prison as a teenager. Free truly opened my eyes to the concept of Restorative Justice and the worth of such programs being held inside of prison.
I feel like this is a book that should be required to be read at schools across the country so that everyone can truly see what a bad decision as a teenager can do to a life and the ripple effect of those effected.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley.