A Distant Connection: Letters from Prisoners Concerned about Today's Youth - Hardcover

Lighty, Kenneth Jamal

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1466992174 ISBN 13: 9781466992177

Publisher: Trafford Publishing, 2013

Synopsis

A DISTANT CONNECTION is an absolute must read for all who find themselves intrigued by the criminal lifestyle in its many facets. From a hi-maximum security prison cell constructed to maximize human loneliness; a site designed to kill the mind; Kenneth Jamal Lighty manages to not only live, but thrive. Through self-cultivated intellect and hard-earned wisdom, he uses the single, most powerful weapon known to a prisoner -the ink pen- to not only bring the plight of the incarcerated into the consciousness of many throughout the world, but also to make a difference by inspiring and informing those whom he manages to come into contact with. In his book debut, Kenneth's efforts to warn a generation of youth who appear to be enamored with street life are nothing short of remarkable. Reaching out to several of his peers, spanning several states across the country, and with various affiliations, he manages to create a pseudo-panel, providing a platform for prisoners to be able to share the hard-earned wisdom attained from years of making their own mistakes, in an effort to alter the trajectory of a generation that is seemingly on a road that will only lead to one or two places: the penitentiary or the cemetery. Via letters, filled with rawness and empathy, each reader is challenged to try a different route to "success". Each individual opens up to reveal the pain beneath the exterior, and offers sound advice on how not to end up a victim of bad choices, before it is too late. Long overdue, A Distant Connection is a much needed intervention that will hopefully inspire change, and place our young people back on the path that will lead to a productive, healthy future.

About this title

About the Author

There are a myriad of life-forces that are sealed off and preyed upon by a carceral onslaught tantamount to high-tech slavery, but there are very few souls that manage to convalesce despite such conditions. Kenneth Jamal Lighty is one of the few. As he sits on federal death row, a victim of the disproportionate injustice that continues to plague so many throughout this country, his voice remains uncompromising. From a super-maximum security cell constructed to maximize human loneliness, a site designed to kill the mind, he manages to not only live, but thrive. Through self-cultivated intellect and hard-earned wisdom, he uses the single, most powerful weapon known to an inmate-the ink pen-to not only bring the plight of the incarcerated into the consciousness of many throughout the world, but also to make a difference by inspiring change and informing those whom he comes into contact with. In his writings, Kenneth manages to provide an eloquent voice for the many that occupy the substratum of a society that is often met with contempt and indifference. His words reflect his profundity, gracefully removing the reader from the comfort of their own environment, and ushering them into the debilitating confines of a prison cell, confronting them with the nightmarish realities that one faces on a daily basis while incarcerated on death row. His unabashed willingness to articulate his own feelings about social issues that affect him and others, as well as his zeal to lead others in their collective quest for evolution, is nothing short of remarkable for a young man that spends 162 out of the 168 hours that constitute a single week on total lockdown, with no human contact. Having to endure such conditions, all the while professing his innocence, one would fully expect Kenneth to be extremely bitter, but he isn't. When asked why, he replied via letter: I was extremely angry for quite some time, and it nearly destroyed me from

Edition details

• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1466992174
• ISBN 13: 9781466992177
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 200