AMAZON - Reviews


5 *****Stars-Kraig Strong
This book is a must read for anyone who is living with a disability, addiction or has a child in that position. The book is a mirror for how society can
treat people and ignore certain problems that don’t affect them. The life Story really keeps you reading overall its a great book

5 *****Stars-Jonell
This book is both an eye opener and a tear jerker. It exposes the criminal justice system as corrupt and inhumane. A very human and sympathetic story of the struggles of a young man and his mother over his health and what an unfair and intolerant system does to damage his health and his life further. An excellent read!
Jonell Blelke, author of Descent into Madness-

5 ***** Stars- Dave
This book is really inspirational and sheds an interesting light on subjects that are not talked about much like MDA and the justice system. It also provides a very interesting life story on CJ that keeps you turning pages. I would recommend this book to just about everyone maybe we could all learn something from this great story.


Good Reads #3 Reviewer-Alicia Abdul

The accessibility of this book can be shown in its brevity and no-nonsense language about life in prison and life with muscular dystrophy. The short chapters introduced by a quotation set the reader up for a lesson to be learned, at times too politically charged, but simple enough that teens will get the message loud and clear. First, that any disability has disadvantages, but it's what you do with them that make your life, and second, that the prison system is not fun and games, especially when you have a disability to contend with and unsympathetic authority figures in charge.

Straightforward and packs a punch.
REVIEWS
Over the course of C.J.’s story, it becomes apparent that the desperation of living with an incurable and misunderstood disease drove him to make some of his more rash decisions. After reading the passage wherein the author is almost arrested when his stumbling gait is mistaken for that of a drunkard’s, I understood the feeling of living in a society that does not seem designed to serve one’s own needs. This book shows that our American “village” is not yet ready to raise its misunderstood children because it is not willing to listen to them.
Several times in his book, the author discusses the possibility that there is a purpose behind his suffering; that maybe his destiny was to live a life caught between the rocks and hard places of society. Whether or not it is divine providence, the author has survived through a series of events and handicaps that could have destroyed others, and in fact did destroy many of his friends and acquaintances along the way. He, himself, is living testament to a silent war being fought between the disadvantaged and the circumstances into which they are born.
This alone gives his suffering meaning. Not All Prisons Have Bars, forces us to ask: for every one person that survives to have his voice heard, how many cries do padded walls, overdoses, or accidents muffle?  Can we really expect people to make the correct life decisions if the inhabitants of this story are raising them?
A powerful book inspires such questions. C.J. has opened up a necessary dialogue about the role we all play in the lives of those born behind invisible bars.
-David Solmo, student, BMD patient-

      C.J. spent his entire life on the outside looking in. Desperately wanting to belong, he tried in vain to play baseball, only to be laughed at and mocked because of a neurological condition that prevented normalcy. Handsome, he attracted the kind of people who used him to attain their own goals. Always the 'fall guy', he ended up in prison and was trapped in a judicial system with no way out.
-Linda Whiting Willis, author of Between the Floods.-

      In helping with this book, written by C.J. and his mother, I could not help but recall the struggles of my own son, whom I wrote about in my book, Descent into Madness–a Personal Look into Schizophrenia.

C.J.'s personal struggles mirror my son's in many ways. Although C.J. has BMD, which makes his coping with just that alone a major struggle, he has the additional burden of trying to mask his pain with illegal drugs, which many persons with such a disease will do.
The criminal “in-justice” system, as I like to call it, often does not accommodate or use discretionary sentencing for people like such as C.J. He and many others do not deserve the treatment they receive which sadly does not allow for this disease and its ensuing emotional and mental distress.
    In deciding to write this book, C.J. and his mother hope that the public will realize what injustices are done to ill prisoners and how C.J and others like him do not belong in the same system with the same generic punishment as others not like them. In addition, she further hopes that the laws will change to allow for more discretion in sentencing and better medical care for inmates. Life is a constant struggle for my son and C.J. and we can only hope at the end of the day, their extraordinary burdens will be lifted by books such as Not all Prisons Have Bars, and that the imprisonment of their bodies and minds will become their only struggles!

-Jonell Belke, author of Descent into Madness.-
Beverly said.....

I believe this book "Not All Prisons Have Bars", is a book that definitely should be read by all educators, congressmen, youth and parents.~!!! I have been involved in schools for over 25 years as a volunteer and a good many of those years being a Mentor.~!! I have seen first hand that "CHILDREN ARE LEFT BEHIND" as there just are not enough trained teachers to deal with special needs kids and many that are having problems in school. Many of the districts try, but the money is not there.~!! Building more prisons and funding them is not the answer, the funding should be for teachers and the kids. Lots more training is needed and of course if parents can get more involved when possible that will help. Many can't and I know so many of these kids are just lost in the wind at so many schools.~!! Many kids are not safe and secure for sure Renee and are miserable at school, some will drop out and others will go on to making poor choices and often do end up in prison. If their needs were met from our tax dollars and more funding in their early years, it would make a big difference. More teachers, higher salaries, smaller classes and training should be more important then any prison.~!! Our youth should come first, they are the future and they deserve better.~!! Thanks for writing this book.~!

  ryansor7 said...
Just read this book really good thanks for writing this book it could really inspire some people.

Jennifer said...
"Not All Prisons Have Bars" What a page turner. I think every elementary school should make this book a must read. All children want is to fit in and be accepted, when they are teased and humiliated it changes there destiny, and forces some to make bad decisions. CJ's story could have been prevented. Hooray to Author for bringing this to our attention, now lets do something about it!!!

Jennifer said...
Funding from big Corporations, should include more for awareness programs, that start right at 6th grade students, have a form for the teachers, parents and students to have an assembly really going over all the dangers that students are going to be faced with. I would speak at schools and make everyone aware of CJ's story. This is a practical solution to a growing epidemic. Preventive is key. I would chalenge any big corporation to employ parents with jobs such as these, we have to do something!!!








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