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Hard Time: Banged Up Abroad Raving Arizona
by
This is an alternate cover edition for B00OJZKUT8
As a teenager in an industrial UK town, Shaun Attwood covets the American Dream. He moves to Arizona with only student credit cards and becomes a stock-market millionaire. After throwing Ecstasy parties for thousands of ravers, Shaun bumps heads with Sammy the Bull Gravano, an Italian Mafia mass murderer, who puts a hit out ...more
As a teenager in an industrial UK town, Shaun Attwood covets the American Dream. He moves to Arizona with only student credit cards and becomes a stock-market millionaire. After throwing Ecstasy parties for thousands of ravers, Shaun bumps heads with Sammy the Bull Gravano, an Italian Mafia mass murderer, who puts a hit out ...more
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Kindle Edition, 366 pages
Published
January 2017
by Gadfly Press
(first published August 5th 2010)
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Start your review of Hard Time: Banged Up Abroad Raving Arizona

The appalling pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio by President Trump was the reason this prison memoir jumped to the top of my To Be Read list. I knew how vile Arpaio was a long time ago despite not living in Arizona or knowing anyone in his jail. He’s notoriously bragged that it cost more to feed the prison dogs than the prisoners, who he fed moldy bread and green bologna to for two meals a day (40 cents a day) and the “red death” for the other meal each day. Naturally, for inmates who were indigent—m
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I picked this up as a free Kindle download and was not disappointed. The book jacket image makes it look amateurish but this writer has chops. He's basically a well-educated man who overindulged his vices and got in a lot of trouble. What makes this book different from so many others is that, firstly, the author can write. Also, he admits to his crimes and accepts his penalty, all while keeping the discussion open about the horrors found in Maricopa County jails. So many people think "oh well, i
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Attwood's tale of his rude awakening in America's toughest jail is as disturbing as it is compelling. How much artistic licence he has taken to make his account more outrageous is obviously open to question, but I imagine much of it is genuine. Whether treating criminals (and remand prisoners, as that is what this book is about) like animals is acceptable is a debate for another time, but there are many sickening scenes in Hard Time.
For all its horrors, Hard Time is a well written account which ...more
For all its horrors, Hard Time is a well written account which ...more

Hard Time is the story of Shaun Attwood. Attwood grew up in England and moved to Arizona after university. His life seemed to be going wonderfully, if illegally—he was a successful stockbroker with a huge mansion and a sports car, and he also threw raves and dealt drugs like Ecstasy. However, after several years, the partying began to weary him and he settled down with his girlfriend, Claudia, and was living a more sedate, lawful life.
However, the law caught up with him. In 2000, he was arrested ...more
However, the law caught up with him. In 2000, he was arrested ...more

Although this author is not as well known as many others out there, I HIGHLY encourage anyone who is looking for something interesting to check out to give his books a try. Shaun Attwood is somewhat well-known in the Phoenix community for being a major ecstasy dealer during the early days of the drugs arrival stateside, as well as being one of the pioneers of the movement of the rave. I got this book as a free Kindle download, and was hooked right from the jump.
The only thing I hated about this ...more
The only thing I hated about this ...more

A "hero-to-zero" true life account of former stockbroker, millionaire day trader Shaun Attwood's nightmare in jail in Arizona BEFORE he was convicted and sent to actual prison. He spent about 2 years in hellish conditions and finally took a plea bargain just to have the certainty of a fixed incarceration period. In the book, he does admit his own guilt in running arguably the largest Ecstasy distribution ring where he lived and throwing drug-fuelled rave parties for thousands.
In a world where t ...more
In a world where t ...more

I think I would have given this book a higher rating had I not lived in Arizona for most of my life and knew for many years about the human rights violations that happened under Joe Arpaio. I think this book will probably stun many who haven't heard of Joe, tent city and the pink boxers. The most surprising thing about the story to me, is that the justice system is SO broken that both sides use loopholes, illegal maneuvering and outright trickery to try to make it work for them.
It also never oc ...more
It also never oc ...more

Although I found the style of writing awkward, I was sucked into Shaun's story too much to put the book down. The story didn't really flow well together, even from paragraph to paragraph, making it difficult to follow sometimes, but it was very entertaining.
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Hard Time is a very compelling first hand account of sheriff Joe Arpaio's torturous Maricopa county jail system. It will also leave you wondering about our criminal justice system as a whole.
Shaun's stories are shocking for many reasons - almost all of them having to do with the prison administration, but also paint a vivid picture of the people living in these jails. They are human beings. Flawed, many broken, but human. The mere drug offenders and petty criminals exist in stark contrast to the ...more
Shaun's stories are shocking for many reasons - almost all of them having to do with the prison administration, but also paint a vivid picture of the people living in these jails. They are human beings. Flawed, many broken, but human. The mere drug offenders and petty criminals exist in stark contrast to the ...more

This book is about a man put in an American Prison for drug offences and is written by him about his time in the jail. It uncovers the ridiculous state of the american system held in remand on a $750,000 bail when the justice system had minumal evidence against him. With the help of a $50k lawyer he managed to get out but only after a plea bargain. A first time offender he was clearly used to set an example. His day to day life in the prison is an interesting read and it sounds horrendus. The fo
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Wow.
I work with women in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, and I am seriously considering lobbying the counseling staff and program director to include some of Shaun Atwood's work in their programming. Of course, it's possible that the only lesson some will learn is "don't do crime in Maricopa County" , it is also quite likely that the larger consequences might sink in. You've done a package tour of Hell, Mr. Attwood. It is awful that people are still treated this way, but you are to be ...more
I work with women in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, and I am seriously considering lobbying the counseling staff and program director to include some of Shaun Atwood's work in their programming. Of course, it's possible that the only lesson some will learn is "don't do crime in Maricopa County" , it is also quite likely that the larger consequences might sink in. You've done a package tour of Hell, Mr. Attwood. It is awful that people are still treated this way, but you are to be ...more

Believable
And compelling...glad to know someone is shedding light on the county jails situation in this country. The fact that it takes someone outside of this country to do that is telling. They are a revolving door and money making scam between the courts and the legal system, and yes if you commit a crime and do the time, that would be one thing, but there's so much room for improvement it's mind boggling that people in county jails are treated like animals. Not just in Arizona, but everywher ...more
And compelling...glad to know someone is shedding light on the county jails situation in this country. The fact that it takes someone outside of this country to do that is telling. They are a revolving door and money making scam between the courts and the legal system, and yes if you commit a crime and do the time, that would be one thing, but there's so much room for improvement it's mind boggling that people in county jails are treated like animals. Not just in Arizona, but everywher ...more

I couldn't put this book down for many of the same reason's I can't stop myself from looking at a traffic accident. I know what I'm about to see/read is bad, but I have to know how bad, even though I'll never clear my mind of the image. The picture Attwood paints is bad. Unbelievably bad. In many ways we're running a third world prison system. Attwood captures this in vivid detail. At times I felt sick as he described the violence, bugs, heat, food, showers, etc.
I would have given it five stars ...more
I would have given it five stars ...more

Tidy
Well worth a read if you're in to prison books going e download prison time now then I've read them all ...more
Well worth a read if you're in to prison books going e download prison time now then I've read them all ...more

Great read
A very interesting book. Looking forward to reading the other books in the series. If I hadn't got to read this one for free, I would've missed out on a good story. ...more
A very interesting book. Looking forward to reading the other books in the series. If I hadn't got to read this one for free, I would've missed out on a good story. ...more

This should be required reading for all teenage boys. If Atwood's true story does not scare them straight then nothing will.
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Great Book
I loved this book. Couldn't stop reading. Great story. Thank you for this great read. I can't wait to read the rest of his books.
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I loved this book. Couldn't stop reading. Great story. Thank you for this great read. I can't wait to read the rest of his books.
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Shaun Attwood's book trilogy including; Party time, Hard Time and Prison time is a compelling series, and an astonishing biographical account of an ex stockbrokers time suffering at the hands of America's judicial system. Shaun exposes the appalling conditions prisoners face and the Hell they must endure, but what stood out for me was the author's resilience, the anecdotes and the friendships formed with other inmates. Attwood's style of narration super sizes the colourful characters and they pr
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Ignore the trashy name and cover. The book ends up covering significant thematic depth, with obvious things like the state of US prisons and the drug epidemic but also ideas of suffering as redemption, the value of reading, emergent order and a whole bunch of fascinating stuff about social and tribal dynamics. It's a bit like if Dostoevsky was a raver from Widnes. Great stuff.
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In prison, I read over 1000 books in just under six years, including many literary classics. Books were the lifeblood of my rehabilitation.
As told on National Geographic Channel's Locked-Up/Banged-Up Abroad episode "Raving Arizona," I used a tiny pencil sharpened on a cell door to write the first prison blog, Jon’s Jail Journal. My writing, smuggled out of the jail with the highest rate of death ...more
As told on National Geographic Channel's Locked-Up/Banged-Up Abroad episode "Raving Arizona," I used a tiny pencil sharpened on a cell door to write the first prison blog, Jon’s Jail Journal. My writing, smuggled out of the jail with the highest rate of death ...more
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