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Consequence: The Aftermath
From abused child; to child abuser; to murderer; to prison minister! "CONSEQUENCE": the aftermath is the sequel to "I Cried, You Didn't Listen". It is the story of the 'few' incarcerated children who 'survived' the California Youth Authority's 'Training camps' ; only to become societies 'worst nightmares'. It is the 'sunset' of life for those who "Innocent until 'Made' Guilty". Dwight Edward Abbott; A.K.A. "Sonny" died in his Prison cell on August 8, 2020. Now He cries No More! R.I.P. my Brother! Love, Skippy
350 pages, Paperback
First published June 18, 2012
31 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
Dwight Edgar Abbott
10 books8 followersDwight "Sonny" Abbott was born within a secure Middle-Class family and was misplaced in the thick of California's abusive penal system.
At the age of nine, a family tragedy split up Dwight Abbott’s family, and forced him into the hands of the California Youth Authority. This is the chilling chronicle of his life behind bars—a story of brutality and survival; a dark journey showing how the systematic abuse of incarcerated children creates a cycle of criminal behavior that usually ends with prison or death.
In its first sterialization, I Cried, You Didn’t Listen won a Project Censored award for stories that are significant, yet under-reported in the mainstream media. This second edition contains an introduction by Books Not Bars, new pieces by the author, and writing from more recent victims of the CYA.
Dwight Abbott, has been in and out of prison since his childhood. He is now serving multiple life sentences in Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad, CA.
“This is a searingly honest book — read it if you have the courage. Dwight Edgar Abbott’s story will reveal more about the self-fueling horrors of incarceration than would ten of the average criminology texts. For years this book has circulated as an almost cult underground document, a simple key to explaining the complex wretched mess that is the American criminal justice system.” —CHRISTIAN PARENTI, author of Lockdown America, The Soft Cage and The Freedom
“Sadly, Dwight’s experience echoes the stories of the thousands of young people still warehoused and dehumanized in California, but also serves powerful testament to the need for a 180 degree shift in how we deal with young people in trouble.” —VAN JONES, Executive Director, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
At the age of nine, a family tragedy split up Dwight Abbott’s family, and forced him into the hands of the California Youth Authority. This is the chilling chronicle of his life behind bars—a story of brutality and survival; a dark journey showing how the systematic abuse of incarcerated children creates a cycle of criminal behavior that usually ends with prison or death.
In its first sterialization, I Cried, You Didn’t Listen won a Project Censored award for stories that are significant, yet under-reported in the mainstream media. This second edition contains an introduction by Books Not Bars, new pieces by the author, and writing from more recent victims of the CYA.
Dwight Abbott, has been in and out of prison since his childhood. He is now serving multiple life sentences in Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad, CA.
“This is a searingly honest book — read it if you have the courage. Dwight Edgar Abbott’s story will reveal more about the self-fueling horrors of incarceration than would ten of the average criminology texts. For years this book has circulated as an almost cult underground document, a simple key to explaining the complex wretched mess that is the American criminal justice system.” —CHRISTIAN PARENTI, author of Lockdown America, The Soft Cage and The Freedom
“Sadly, Dwight’s experience echoes the stories of the thousands of young people still warehoused and dehumanized in California, but also serves powerful testament to the need for a 180 degree shift in how we deal with young people in trouble.” —VAN JONES, Executive Director, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 14, 2014
I don't know how you do it, Mr. Vollmann. Your bibliography for Rising Up and Rising Down is currently at 370 books (and rising); I'm just trying to pick through a few of books you've referenced and I'm not sure that I can hang. This non-fiction violence is getting to me. And I've only read a few off the list. How were you able to consult all of these books and then write a 3,500 page magnum opus on violence?
In Abbott's I Cried, You Didn't Listen, the author details the horror of being placed into the California youth correctional system at the age of 9, raped by staff members, brutalized and humiliated by an institution specifically created to do these things to children. This isn't Abu Ghraib, this is the USA, and it happens every goddamned day. Oh yeah, Dwight was put into the CYA system because his parents were in a horrific auto accident in Nevada and he had no extended family to care for him and thus became a ward of the state. Shudder.
Consequence is the follow-up the Abbott's first horror tale where he details what happens to a human that is systematically de-humanized and degregated for nine years. He was the youngest inmate sent to San Quentin. The stories of what happens to him - and other inmates - over the next 50 years (yes, he has been in the prison systems since 9) are just too terrible to believe. If only they weren't. America's prison system is just so dire, so horrific - is it any wonder why recidivism for paroled inmates is so high when we spend all this money on an environment that makes them into perfect criminals?
You know what? Don't read this book. Not that you shouldn't, it's just that I like you. And I don't want you to feel as awful as I have these past couple of days after finishing this and feeling yet again the hopelessness of humanity. We suck.
So I'm going to shut off this computer and go do the only thing that will make me happy.
Prancercising.
In Abbott's I Cried, You Didn't Listen, the author details the horror of being placed into the California youth correctional system at the age of 9, raped by staff members, brutalized and humiliated by an institution specifically created to do these things to children. This isn't Abu Ghraib, this is the USA, and it happens every goddamned day. Oh yeah, Dwight was put into the CYA system because his parents were in a horrific auto accident in Nevada and he had no extended family to care for him and thus became a ward of the state. Shudder.
Consequence is the follow-up the Abbott's first horror tale where he details what happens to a human that is systematically de-humanized and degregated for nine years. He was the youngest inmate sent to San Quentin. The stories of what happens to him - and other inmates - over the next 50 years (yes, he has been in the prison systems since 9) are just too terrible to believe. If only they weren't. America's prison system is just so dire, so horrific - is it any wonder why recidivism for paroled inmates is so high when we spend all this money on an environment that makes them into perfect criminals?
You know what? Don't read this book. Not that you shouldn't, it's just that I like you. And I don't want you to feel as awful as I have these past couple of days after finishing this and feeling yet again the hopelessness of humanity. We suck.
So I'm going to shut off this computer and go do the only thing that will make me happy.
Prancercising.
February 27, 2016
Oh, my...! I have to catch my breath and think a bit before writing my review because I want to do justice to the author. Let me just say for now that Dwight Abbott's biography is a deeply disturbing and exceptionally well written document. It gives you to feel (almost live) what the author went through and it does it in a so raw and so real way that you don't read it without putting yourself into question.
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What can I write that really does justice to this exceptional man and great author, except to ask you to read the two books of his biography? Read them right away! Believe me, you will not regret it. Even if you have trouble reading books about injustice and cruelty, you will love them. They will dive deep inside and move you. But Dwight Abbott is so combative, we can consider that he is a survivor of a man-made jungle, more cruel than that with trees and wildlife. Because humans can be far more cruel than any wild animal. Wild animals take at least care for their children! Us, we put them in cages and we forget them there. Come what may! But what happens is that through constant mistreatment, abuses and rapes, we transform them gradually into predators increasingly dangerous and then we pretend that we are shocked by the final result.
http://goodmenproject.com/ethics-valu...
The picture is one of Sonny in cell 5.
-----------
What can I write that really does justice to this exceptional man and great author, except to ask you to read the two books of his biography? Read them right away! Believe me, you will not regret it. Even if you have trouble reading books about injustice and cruelty, you will love them. They will dive deep inside and move you. But Dwight Abbott is so combative, we can consider that he is a survivor of a man-made jungle, more cruel than that with trees and wildlife. Because humans can be far more cruel than any wild animal. Wild animals take at least care for their children! Us, we put them in cages and we forget them there. Come what may! But what happens is that through constant mistreatment, abuses and rapes, we transform them gradually into predators increasingly dangerous and then we pretend that we are shocked by the final result.
http://goodmenproject.com/ethics-valu...
The picture is one of Sonny in cell 5.
May 7, 2015
OMG! How can you live such a life? If at least I could tell that there aren't babies sent in jails anymore... But I can't. I know there is still a lot of them who live in hell at the moment, just like the author of this book. And USA pretends to be a civilized country! But I know that this is happening in many other countries.
It's a hard book to read. But it must be read! I'd like that a good movie director to make a movie out of this story. It'd become a success, I'm sure.
Just read it!
It's a hard book to read. But it must be read! I'd like that a good movie director to make a movie out of this story. It'd become a success, I'm sure.
Just read it!
July 21, 2018
I have watched hundreds of episodes of TV series like Lock Up, Jail, Hard Time, ... I also read quite some books on prison or jail life, riots, you name it... And let’s not forget the documentaries / movies about e.g. Kalief Bowder: a teenager that was mistreated, raped, bashed up and put a long time in solitary confinement in Rikers Island Jail in New York - he committed suicide afterwards.
This book puts everything else I have seen or read about the prison system in its shadow.
This is a book with an EXTREMELY POWERFUL MESSAGE.
It would be an excellent script for a movie, NETFLIX docuseries. Well... it would even be fair that this book is published by a renowned publishing company. It is currently self published. Is this because this book is politically a ‘hot potatoe’?
Whilst there were some indicators of prisoner misuse by guards and officers in what I read and watched so far, this book finally shows what really takes place. Systematic terrorizing, sadism, torture, foltering and even targetted killing (in my opinion murder) of convicts by prison guards. And you really need to be afraid when a guards has a personal thing against you! Guards that LIE to get prisoners additional priosn time, guards dealing drugs, ... Even a basic thing like an inmate reporting medical issues and want to see a doctor: guards simply disallow you to visit a doctor, eventually ending up in prisoners deaths.
And the guards allows get legally away with it! One then wonders why guards are sometimes killed by inmates. A dog that is continually kicked, can bite back...
The misstances by USA officers in the Abu Ghraib are no coincidence. This issue is problematic and seem to very well hide it.
What I read in this book is oftentime comparable and sometimes even worse than what I read in books about World War 2 camps or Stalinist Gulags. It’s almost as if the SS officers of the Second WW moved to the USA to work as officer in a prison.
Don’t be mistaken... there are many “good guys” that work as guard in the prison system, but imagine one rotten apple in a fruit basket. Others will rot way quicker.
This book finally shows the misuse ongoing in the prison / jail / juvenile system. Just an example... In a documentary on the New Mexico prison riot, I got the impression that they had two solitary confinement cells for sensory deprivation: i.e. no light, no sounds, ... This was only shortly visible in this documentary, but I was shocked! I never heard of these before. Well... the author of this book lived for years under these conditions! INHUMANE!
Okay... There may be some comments on a not perfect writing style. This since the author has not much ecperience and certainly no editor available. But I can say I have seen less good authors. In my opinion the writingstyle of the (beginning) author is very satisfactory.
I hope to read many many more of this author! Easily deserves five stars, like his previous book describing his life in juvenile prison.
This book puts everything else I have seen or read about the prison system in its shadow.
This is a book with an EXTREMELY POWERFUL MESSAGE.
It would be an excellent script for a movie, NETFLIX docuseries. Well... it would even be fair that this book is published by a renowned publishing company. It is currently self published. Is this because this book is politically a ‘hot potatoe’?
Whilst there were some indicators of prisoner misuse by guards and officers in what I read and watched so far, this book finally shows what really takes place. Systematic terrorizing, sadism, torture, foltering and even targetted killing (in my opinion murder) of convicts by prison guards. And you really need to be afraid when a guards has a personal thing against you! Guards that LIE to get prisoners additional priosn time, guards dealing drugs, ... Even a basic thing like an inmate reporting medical issues and want to see a doctor: guards simply disallow you to visit a doctor, eventually ending up in prisoners deaths.
And the guards allows get legally away with it! One then wonders why guards are sometimes killed by inmates. A dog that is continually kicked, can bite back...
The misstances by USA officers in the Abu Ghraib are no coincidence. This issue is problematic and seem to very well hide it.
What I read in this book is oftentime comparable and sometimes even worse than what I read in books about World War 2 camps or Stalinist Gulags. It’s almost as if the SS officers of the Second WW moved to the USA to work as officer in a prison.
Don’t be mistaken... there are many “good guys” that work as guard in the prison system, but imagine one rotten apple in a fruit basket. Others will rot way quicker.
This book finally shows the misuse ongoing in the prison / jail / juvenile system. Just an example... In a documentary on the New Mexico prison riot, I got the impression that they had two solitary confinement cells for sensory deprivation: i.e. no light, no sounds, ... This was only shortly visible in this documentary, but I was shocked! I never heard of these before. Well... the author of this book lived for years under these conditions! INHUMANE!
Okay... There may be some comments on a not perfect writing style. This since the author has not much ecperience and certainly no editor available. But I can say I have seen less good authors. In my opinion the writingstyle of the (beginning) author is very satisfactory.
I hope to read many many more of this author! Easily deserves five stars, like his previous book describing his life in juvenile prison.
June 15, 2017
Amazingly eye opening! The horrors of the child penal system from an "inmate's, personal experience.
This book is about how a normal little boy ,in the 1950's, ended up in "the system" and the effects his experiences had on the rest of his life. Learning at 9 years old that he had to quickly decide if he would allow himself to be used and abused or would he stand up for himself and fight back. This is how children in "The System" are groomed for prison. The author , DEWIGHT ABBOTT, grew up in this environment and is now serving 4 life sentences in the California prison system. My heart goes out to this man, who is a product of our treatment of children who fall into the system through circumstances beyond anyone's control. I pray his remaining time is much calmer than what life has dealt him for most of his life. Thank you for your story Mr. Abbott. I applaud you for bringing to light the horrors that go on and the need of change.
This book is about how a normal little boy ,in the 1950's, ended up in "the system" and the effects his experiences had on the rest of his life. Learning at 9 years old that he had to quickly decide if he would allow himself to be used and abused or would he stand up for himself and fight back. This is how children in "The System" are groomed for prison. The author , DEWIGHT ABBOTT, grew up in this environment and is now serving 4 life sentences in the California prison system. My heart goes out to this man, who is a product of our treatment of children who fall into the system through circumstances beyond anyone's control. I pray his remaining time is much calmer than what life has dealt him for most of his life. Thank you for your story Mr. Abbott. I applaud you for bringing to light the horrors that go on and the need of change.
June 25, 2012
After reading Abbott's first book, I Cried, You Didn't Listen, I couldn't wait to see if he would write a second book letting us know what happened to him after leaving the juvenile system.
It was difficult at times to read that his life never really changed much from when he was a child growing up in the CYA, but at least it showed that he is survivor - no matter what has been thrown his way, he has overcome things that a normal person could never have.
Along with tales of the brutality that is always pesent in prisons, Dwight shared a few stories that made me smile.
I would encourage people to read both of Abbott's books, and if you have young people at risk in your life, share the books with them so that maybe they will re-think the way they are living so they do not spend the majority of their years behind bars.
Merged review:
After reading Abbott's first book, I Cried, You Didn't Listen, I couldn't wait to see if he would write a second book letting us know what happened to him after leaving the juvenile system.
It was difficult at times to read that his life never really changed much from when he was a child growing up in the CYA, but at least it showed that he is survivor - no matter what has been thrown his way, he has overcome things that a normal person could never have.
Along with tales of the brutality that is always pesent in prisons, Dwight shared a few stories that made me smile.
I would encourage people to read both of Abbott's books, and if you have young people at risk in your life, share the books with them so that maybe they will re-think the way they are living so they do not spend the majority of their years behind bars.
It was difficult at times to read that his life never really changed much from when he was a child growing up in the CYA, but at least it showed that he is survivor - no matter what has been thrown his way, he has overcome things that a normal person could never have.
Along with tales of the brutality that is always pesent in prisons, Dwight shared a few stories that made me smile.
I would encourage people to read both of Abbott's books, and if you have young people at risk in your life, share the books with them so that maybe they will re-think the way they are living so they do not spend the majority of their years behind bars.
Merged review:
After reading Abbott's first book, I Cried, You Didn't Listen, I couldn't wait to see if he would write a second book letting us know what happened to him after leaving the juvenile system.
It was difficult at times to read that his life never really changed much from when he was a child growing up in the CYA, but at least it showed that he is survivor - no matter what has been thrown his way, he has overcome things that a normal person could never have.
Along with tales of the brutality that is always pesent in prisons, Dwight shared a few stories that made me smile.
I would encourage people to read both of Abbott's books, and if you have young people at risk in your life, share the books with them so that maybe they will re-think the way they are living so they do not spend the majority of their years behind bars.
May 20, 2015
OMG! How can you live such a life? If at least I could tell that there aren't babies sent in jails anymore... But I can't. I know there is still a lot of them who live in hell at the moment, just like the author of this book. And USA pretends to be a civilized country! But I know that this is happening in many other countries.
[This book is the sequel of I Cried, You Didn't Listen: A First Person Look at a Childhood Spent Inside CYA Youth Detention Systems. The author describes in it how the gangs like Aryan Brotherhood, Pink Panthers, la nuestra familia and others began in jail and how they affected the life of the prisoners and of all the America. He also speaks of George Jackson and his death while trying to escape for San Quentin. The author describes too his own attempt at escaping the same jail, how he was nearly kill by members of the Arian Brotherhood and how he was kept 4½ years in isolation, a rat his only friend! This seems incredible, but I'm sure this is real. (hide spoiler)]
It's a hard book to read. But it must be read! I'd like that a good movie director to make a movie out of this story. It'd become a success, I'm sure.
Just read it!
[This book is the sequel of I Cried, You Didn't Listen: A First Person Look at a Childhood Spent Inside CYA Youth Detention Systems. The author describes in it how the gangs like Aryan Brotherhood, Pink Panthers, la nuestra familia and others began in jail and how they affected the life of the prisoners and of all the America. He also speaks of George Jackson and his death while trying to escape for San Quentin. The author describes too his own attempt at escaping the same jail, how he was nearly kill by members of the Arian Brotherhood and how he was kept 4½ years in isolation, a rat his only friend! This seems incredible, but I'm sure this is real. (hide spoiler)]
It's a hard book to read. But it must be read! I'd like that a good movie director to make a movie out of this story. It'd become a success, I'm sure.
Just read it!
August 25, 2016
If you thought Volume 1 of this book, "I Cried, You Didn't Listen", was hard to take in without being able to put down, you won't be disappointed. Dwight is naturally talented in exposing life's truths, horrors that most people tend to shut out and push away. No one can leave reading this book and the first volume of this book without being touched. This volume goes into depth about gang related details that are most likely a rarity to be found elsewhere. From the Aryan Brotherhood and its real roots, as well as the Nuestra Familia, the Mexican Mafia, the Black Panthers, and so on. The Afterward and Commentary are well worth the read as is the mini dictionary in the back.
January 31, 2016
Trauma is expensive
Abbott's works are compelling, brilliant; however, as he points out, political denial and expedience are powerful.
Trauma costs -- individuals and society. Prisons, jails and juvenile detention graphically demonstrate the costs, yet they perpetuate the problem.
Abbott's works are compelling, brilliant; however, as he points out, political denial and expedience are powerful.
Trauma costs -- individuals and society. Prisons, jails and juvenile detention graphically demonstrate the costs, yet they perpetuate the problem.
June 24, 2012
Hard, difficult, informative. Open a door to a world we would not otherwise know.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews