On Point!: The Making of a Prison Contraband Captain

It is an honor to write a recommendation for Captain Johnson's book. We worked together for several years, planning and plotting to reduce the flow of contraband into our prison, Lee Correctional Institution. At all times, he was fully professional in his dealings with both inmates and staff, by his example, modeling for us how to be better.

Captain Johnson's book is "on point," as he would like to say, in three ways: It tells in horrifying detail the assault on him at his home, then puts the assault in the context of the contraband market. An inmate group found him simply too effective to be allowed to continue his work.

This context is the second value of his book; it educates readers about the dangers of cell phones in prison and the link of the contraband trade back to the neighborhoods in which we live.

The third focus of his book is education. Step by step, he takes the reader into a cell search, pointing out the mistakes that veteran and rookie COs could make and offering his own tricks for a thorough search. It is certain that new hires coming through basic training could use this book as their guide both to learning about contraband as well as learning about professionalism in corrections.

Captain Johnson delivers his best in a prison, in a classroom, and in our community.

-Margaret Jean Bell, author of the novel Prison Grits