Newjack Audiobook (Free)

NEWJACK: Guarding Sing Sing is the tale of Conover’s rookie year being a guard in Sing Sing. It is a nerve-jangling account of his passing into the storied prison as well as the culture of its guards – both fresh-faced “newjacks” like Conover and brutally solidified veterans. As he struggles to be always a great official, Conover angers inmates, dodges blows, functions to balance decency with toughness, and participates in prison rituals – remove frisks, cell searches, cell “extractions” – that specific a toll on inmates about Newjack and officials alike. The tale begins with the corrections academy and ends using the flames and smoke cigarettes of New Year’s Eve on Conover’s ground from the notorious B-Block. On the way, Conover also recounts the history of Sing Sing, from draconian early punishment, to fame as the citadel of capital abuse, to its present status as NY State’s “bottom of the barrel” prison. This book will become a landmark of American journalism – the definitive display of the impasse between the need to imprison crooks as well as the dehumanization of inmates and guards – that nearly inevitably occurs behind bars. “Newjack can be an astonishing work with a gifted – and dedicated – journalist. Ted Conover will take us into the dangerous, sad, amusing and instructive spirit of 1 of America’s best known prisons.” — Tom Brokaw