It’s a gripping coming-of-age tale, as Parsell conveys his disillusionment with his brother, his coming to terms with his sexual identity as a gay man, and his discovery of a path that gives his life deep value – integrating into society as an activist fighting to curb prison rape. She seems to be the only person in authority who isn’t coming from a place of self-serving ignorance and cruelty. The third is with a Miss Bain, an African American staff member who treats Parsell with respect and compassion, offering him work on the prison newspaper. In the epilogue, Parsell reprints their correspondence conducted some 25 years later Paul still incarcerated, Parsell having remade his life on the outside. Paul teaches him to survive after being transferred to another facility. The second is with a young white boy, Paul, with whom Parsell falls in love. The con falls in love with Parsell, refers to him as “Squeeze” and treats him with tenderness. The first is with a respected, tough black inmate who wins him in a coin flip after his welcoming gang rape. Parsell held up the local Photo Mat with a toy gun, he was sentenced to four and a half to fifteen. He has three significant relationships which carry the spark of hope. Somehow, he kept his own humanity, enough to detail the arbitrary nature of administrative decisions and the heartless violence of his fellow inmates. He was immediately attacked, and then taken as one man’s property. At 17, he entered the Michigan prison system after holding up a photo shop with a toy gun. But as with most fantasies, the reality of prison life was a rude awakening. “Beautiful” might seem an odd description for a book that details prison rape so frequently, but Parsell tells his story with impeccable honesty, capturing terrifyingly specific details that can’t fail to arouse empathy in any but the most callous reader.Īs a typically confused adolescent, Parsell admits to feeling a magnetic pull towards prison, especially after his older brother becomes a career criminal. This is a beautiful memoir detailing one man’s experiences being a young, pretty, white boy in prison.

Fish: A Memoir of a Boy in a Man’s Prison

Fish by tj parsell