A question of freedom

the long version

At the age of sixteen, R. Dwayne Betts--a good student from a lower-middle-class family--carjacked a man with a friend. He had never held a gun before, but within a matter of minutes he had committed six felonies. In Virginia, carjacking is an offense requiring treatment as an adult. A bright young kid, weighing only 126 pounds, he served his eight-year sentence as part of the adult population in some of the worst prisons in the state. This is his coming-of-age story. Utterly alone--and with the growing realization that he really is not going home any time soon--Dwayne confronts profound questions about violence, freedom, crime, race, and the justice system, and above all, a quest for identity.--From publisher description.