criminal u: behind the barbed wire and bars of america's prisons

“Prison don’t teach motherf%#^*s how to stop what they doin’,” an inmate told me shortly after I was incarcerated. “They teach you how to do it better. Believe that.”

Criminal U

My education behind the barbed wire and bars of America’s prisons

Andrew Scot Bolsinger

I soon learned this lesson first-hand on the road to personal redemption and recovery.

Criminal U Andrew Scot Bolsinger

When an award-winning journalist experienced several years of the cruel environment of penal institutions, he was compelled to create the first-ever university-level behind-the-scenes insights into the statistical data that has captured national attention.

Criminal U is more than a first-person encounter with all that’s wrong with America’s system of corrections and penal institution. It is an educational experience with potential for social impact and political change. It is a brand of knowledge unlike any on the market today.

Criminal U is mandatory reading for all who have been on the inside of the barbed wire and behind the bars of any of the nation’s jails and prisons. Family members and all who support inmates and former inmates will find Criminal U a required resource.

Welcome to Criminal U, where more than two million students are enrolled without a textbook … until now.


"Now and then a book comes along that might in time touch the public and educate social commentators, policymakers, and politicians about a glaring wrong that we have been living with that we also somehow don't know how to face. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander is such a work“ — The New York Review of Books

Michelle Alexander seared the conscience of America and catalyzed a current debate over a growing national problem. Criminal U follows that proven path of success.

The issues raised by Alexander become more than statistics as they come to life in Criminal U.

Bolsinger walks behind the barbed wire and steps inside the cage, dragging us all along for a first-person experience and an education about the societal impact of the industrial prison complex that educators, journalists and policymakers will find compelling.


THE MARKET Activists: Americans are concerned about the School-to-Prison Pipeline and the revolving door of recidivism. From media pundits to celebrities to policymakers to the president, activist voices fuel the purchases of well-written informative books on the subject of incarceration.

Inmates: Inside prison walls, inmates hunger for reading material. Most have a limited education and narrow interests. Criminal U is exactly the kind of raw in-your-face writing that appeals to a prison culture. The path it takes to enlightenment will make it one of the most shared books inside the pen.

Former Inmates: Very little prepares inmates for re-entry into society. The fast-paced tech-driven Innovation Economy changes the whole of society so much it is like walking into a foreign environment for ex-inmates when released. Criminal U is their best friend and resource platform.

Inmate Supporters: A community comprised of family members, social workers, nonprofits, educators, researchers, columnists, bloggers and the churches nationwide serve as support for millions of former inmates. Criminal U offers them insights and education to better understand the individuals they seek to help … and how best to help them.

Educational Institutions: Sociologists will find Criminal U compelling and a must-read for every student. Understanding the institution that is disrupting society with generational impact is an essential part of any sociological studies program.


“We spend $40 billion a year on the drug war and $8 billion incarcerating people, 25 percent of whom are in there for drugs,” Think of all the other things we could do with that money.” Brad Pitt (April 2010 issue of Esquire)


“There’s a chunk of that prison population, a great huge chunk of our criminal justice system, that is involved in non-violent crimes…there are millions of lives out there that are being destroyed or distorted because we haven’t fully thought through the process. ”

President Barack Obama

Criminal U Math Quiz: In 2020, when America has more than 3 million inmates, plus another 7 million former inmates, how many families, educators, nonprofits and social service workers will be concerned with the issue of incarceration and its societal impact?


BRANDING Community: Criminal U is more than a book. It is the authoritative voice and anthem of an online community of inmates and supporters who have a shared experience and knowledge of a separate and unequal society behind bars. The Criminal U Society is a social media platform connecting a unique society within a society.

Database: Criminal U will be an online databank and resource that captures and categorizes data, infographics, documentaries, books by other authors, reports, political speeches, voting records on issues related to incarceration, health and education of inmates.

Media: Criminal U will become a media platform, aggregating content from across the nation and around the world, producing original content and inviting expert voices to blog and participate in interviews and panel chats on social media.

Criminal U will develop a unique digital footprint and brand.

Today books can do so much more …

My education behind the barbed wire of America’s penal institutions



The Criminal U database will keep track of how many inmates are in the system in each state and the costs involved.

171,790

171,444

62,620

37,718

22,335 29,412

55,205

97,416

13,855

18,126

37,800 6,540

50,326

50,730

My education behind the barbed wire of America’s penal institutions


The Criminal U market is

growing exponentially


WHOIS Author: If Pennies Could Talk (novel, 2003).

Scholar: Published in Journal of Psychology and Theology; Assertiveness and Values. Winner of Outstanding Psychology Major from George Fox University.

Award-winning Journalist: Winner of more than two dozen press association awards in Virginia and Oregon, including best writing, best editorial writing, investigative reporting and best column.

• Led the resurgence of the daily newspaper, Ashland Daily Tidings, from the brink of extinction to winner of the prestigious ONPA General Excellence award in Oregon in just three years.

• Led the development of the Tidings online community, which won Best Online Community Engagement in the Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Journalism competition.

AndrewScotBolsinger

Enter Criminal U for your freshman indoctrination: criminalu.co

Contact: [email protected]

http://criminalu.co/