THE SEVENTH STEP

by Bill Sands ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 17, 1967

Equally as extraordinary as the author's bestselling My Shadow Ran Fast and more important, this describes Mr. Sand's one man crusade to initiate a new penal rehabilitation program. This program, known as The Seventh Step, has proved tremendously successful, reducing the percentage of men returning to prison for crimes committed after their release from 80% to 20%. And it was set up with the author's help, by convicts for convicts. How did he manage to influence the ""Hardrocks,"" the ""Solids,"" the ""Punks,"" and ""Rapos"" into helping themselves? It was an agonizing process and this takes you right into the drama of prison life, with its intense resentment, sadism and murder. Sands knew all about it because he'd been there, he knew about the cumulating desire for revenge and he knew he had to change this into a desire for freedom. Another tough assignment was to get the men to face themselves and the world outside realistically. Yeah, he knew about the big shot daydreams. He also knew about the hopelessness of the ""overdue"" men; men who had been parolled but not released because no one would hire them. Now some of his prerelease classes are run by Cormer ""incorrigibles,"" ex-cons are sponsoring parolees, Seventh Step Clubs have been set up on the outside and juvenile delinquents are being exposed to the program and learning a lesson. The life stories of the men involved are fascinating as are the moment-by-moment tensions as the program builds momentum. Exhilarating, inspiring and it promises to run even further and faster than Shadow.

Pub Date: April 17, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: New American Library

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION