One Time

Gavin Laird is getting his life back together. After run-ins with the law, a habit of substance abuse, and getting shot during a drug deal gone wrong, Gavin is living clean, working a full-time job, trying to live the straight and narrow path. That is, until he’s in the wrong place at the wrong time and ends up charged, handcuffed, and headed for County jail.

Based on real experiences of inmates the author interviewed after their release, One Time is a personal, behind-the-scenes look at the county-level justice system through the eyes of one man at the mercy of a self-perpetuating bureaucracy. As the author writes, “The trend: build more jails, bigger and better, feeding the insatiable appetite of the system that has evolved, not a whole lot better than the dungeons of old England.” At a point in history when the U.S. has 25% of the world’s prison population and mass incarceration continues to destroy thousands of lives each year, One Time is a timely and honest look at prison in America.