PENNSYLVANIA-- Long before the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the Patriot Act, the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq- and the sickening montage of photographs of Arab prisoners being humiliated and abused by U.S. soldiers shockingly displayed on the front covers of every newspaper in the world- "An order was sent out for body bags," Reginald Sinclair Lewis writes in the essay "A Very Odd Place," from his new book Where I'm Writing From: Essays From Pennsylvania's Death Row (PublishAmerica, LLLP, ISBN: 1-4137-3674-2, $19.95), a collection of 28 essays recorded in a small, cramped cell on Pennsylvania's Death Row- while the author was housed at SCI-Greene, one of the toughest super maximum security prisons in the state, which employed Corporal Charles Garner, the now-convicted central figure in the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

From a jumble of concrete and wire-mesh dog cages and cold steel- a tapestry of stories is cut from the daily lives of over two million men and women trapped inside our own Guantanamo Bays constructed all across America.

In the award-winning opening essay, "Sweeter Than Sugar," the author recounts his painful childhood memories being tormented daily by a neighborhood bully. "Reflections Of An Ex-Gang Member" further examines his turbulent youth as a member of "12th & Oxford Street Gang," one of the largest and fiercest black street gangs in the city.

The author acts as a keen eyed Jailhouse Journalist who microscopically examines the flaws of the so-called American Justice System.

"There are hard hitting investigative pieces about unjust convictions," Lewis said, "police corruption, black on black crime, dehumanizing prison shakedowns, and my correspondence with a group of schoolchildren that led to the three day, 30 mile 'Children's Crusade to Death Row,' a memorable civil rights march that garnered local, national and international media attention." Lewis's work has garnered three P.E.N. American Center Writing Awards for prisoners. His self-published two books of poetry, Leaving Death Row and Inside My Head, received wide acclaim and earned him the title of "The Poet Laureate of Death Row." He has been teenaged intern to Grammy Award-Winning singer Billy Paul, the Welterweight Champion of Rahway State prison, a former student of Temple University, and a member of The Nation of Islam, under the leadership of The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, where he was known as Squad Leader Reginald 26X.

In 1983, Lewis was convicted of the stabbing death of a man inside a Philadelphia drug bar. He was tried by the notorious hanging judge Albert F. Sabo, who has sent more poor black defendants to death row than any other acting judge.

Editors: For review copies or interviews with the author, contact Reginald S. Lewis via email at reggie@reginaldslewis.org.

Please visit www.reginaldslewis.org for more information.

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