The Dehumanizing Factor

My book starts with a courtroom drama with Johanna Gail Johnson on trial for first-degree murder. She is found innocent of those charges but guilty of premeditation and ordered to serve five years in a minimum security prison.

Johanna sits through a lengthy trial. Her life gets completely exposed as she hears testimony from those who did not hear her pleas for help. Her story was too bizarre to be true. We thought her complaints were just normal problems between husband and wife.

In prison, she works in the main cafeteria and becomes friends with Mona Lisa, who says the kitchen is her domain. All the characters in prison have fictional names like Mona Lisa. Johanna becomes Shotgun. Their fictional names sometimes represent their looks but, more often, the crime they committed.

Through the counseling with the chaplain, Johanna realizes what set her up to become a victim.