This book is the report of a collaborative effort. Frank Porporino and I
arrived at the starting point for our work together by very different
routes. Originally trained as an experimental psychologist, I had become
in- creasingly restive within the confines of the laboratory, and spent
a sab- batical year in the equivalent of a clinical internship. I then
spent some time as a part-time consultant in a local penitentiary. Most
of my time in the institution was spent with inmates with a variety of
problems, probably about 50 individuals over the course of a year.
Although this was far fewer than a full-time psychologist in the system
might encounter, it served as a quick cram course on problem prisoners
and prisoner problems. Very quickly my stereotypes about convicts were
shown to be virtually useless. I learned that the criminal classes
included all levels of society, and that the behavior of prisoners was
the same as that of other human beings in a difficult environment.