Almost 330,000 children in America are in prison, in a detention center, on probation, or otherwise incarcerated. In a time of nascent prison reform, these children are often left out of the conversation. This book chronicles the experiences of six young people in Ash Meadow, a prison for juveniles in Washington State. Written from the perspective of a prison's rehabilitation counselor, this book provides a firsthand account of these children's lives during and after their stay. These accounts show how domestic violence, inequality, and poor adult-modeling influence the decisions that children make later in life.

For fifteen years, Jerome Gold worked as a rehabilitation counselor in a prison for juveniles in Washington state. Throughout his time there, he kept a journal of his experiences with youths who had been incarcerated for murder, kidnap, assault, rape and other sex offenses, auto theft, burglary, and selling drugs. What started as a journal designed to relieve stress turned into the evocation of one man's nuanced perspective on a unique group of young people. Paranoia & Heartbreak tells Gold's personal story of coming to terms with people who have crossed over to the other side of their own humanity. Writing from ample experience and with unflinching compassion, Gold brings the reader to see these "deviants"--and through them, in some slanted way, our whole society, with an unexpected intensity.