A review by milliebot_reads
Solitary by Albert Woodfox

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

I don't really know what can be said about a person's firsthand account of being not only wrongly imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, but kept in solitary confinement for almost all of his 40+ year sentence. Thinking about a person spending all his teen and adult life behind bars, in the absolutely disgusting, degrading, and inhumane conditions of a Louisiana prison is just gut wrenching. Especially when you consider he should have had a relatively short sentence for the crime he did commit, but then he was so blatantly wrongly accused of murder - the state stole his life, if you ask me. 

Yet, Woodfox remained hopeful during his stay and it comes through in his writing. He's truly an inspiration, once you start reading all he went through and the outlook he maintained and the true friendships he formed both in and outside prison.

This is one of those things I just can't write eloquently about. If you think our prison system "ain't so bad" - you should really read this book. Woodfox's stay covers the 70s right into 2016 - conditions haven't improved all that much. If you're already disgusted with the American Prison Industrial System, you should still read this book because it's wild, and because Woodfox really put himself into it and I think it's important to read first hand accounts of these experiences.