Hard Time: A Brit in America's Toughest Jail

As told by Locked-Up Abroad "Raving Arizona," Shaun Attwood wrote the first prison blog, Jon's Jail Journal, which attracted international media attention to the human rights violations in Sheriff Joe Arpaio's jail system in Phoenix, Arizona.

Shaun Attwood was a millionaire day trader in Arizona, but his hedonistic lifestyle of drugs and rave parties came to an abrupt end in 2002 when a SWAT team broke down his door. Shaun found himself on remand in Maricopa County jail with a $750,000 cash bond and all of his assets seized. The nightmare was only just beginning as he was submerged in a jail in which rival gangs vied for control, crystal meth was freely available, and where breaking rules could result in beatings or death.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's jails have the highest death rate in the U.S. Hard Time is the harrowing yet darkly humorous account of the time Shaun spent submerged in a nightmarish world of gang violence and insect-infested cells, eating food unfit for animals. His remarkable story provides a revealing glimpse into the tragedy, brutality, comedy, and eccentricity of prison life. 24 color photographs.