Outside Looking In
An Inmate's Guide to Life Inside the Bureau of Prisons
Today, I reached a milestone on a project that I’ve been working on for over a year. I uploaded the ‘final’ version of Outside Looking In to Amazon KDP. Steve French wrote the book while incarcerated in a federal lockup. We met when we were both incarcerated at the same low-security BOP facility.
What every first-time federal inmate should know.
Entering the federal prison system is overwhelming; especially for those who don’t know what to expect. Outside Looking In was written from inside the Bureau of Prisons by someone who lived it.
Based on years of firsthand experience, this guide explains the realities of federal incarceration in plain language. It covers daily life behind the fence, institutional routines, unwritten rules, and the policies that shape everything from housing and work assignments to communication, discipline, and release planning.
Drawing directly from BOP Program Statements and federal law, Outside Looking In gives incoming inmates—and their families—a practical framework for understanding the system before the door closes. The goal is simple: reduce uncertainty, avoid unnecessary mistakes, and help readers adjust more quickly to life in federal custody with clarity and dignity.
Steve sent me handwritten copies of each chapter, which I keyed in. Then I used Grammarly to edit the text. After receiving approval of the text (sent to him as a printed Google Doc for each chapter), I began work on the book design. The most difficult barrier we faced was getting the design proofs to Steve. The warden where he is serving time set an arbitrary limit of five single-sided pages per letter. This meant at a certain point, we had to give up on proofing the layout.
To reach the point where it was ready for publication, I created two separate versions. This one is the more compact of the two, and it’s 414 pages! One of the things we hope Outside Looking In will do is to help folks facing federal sentences. To aid in their understanding of life inside the fence, we included program statements and the federal code for several chapters. This information makes up much of the book. It should serve as an unofficial handbook for incoming prisoners.
This project is the first major one I’ve designed since my release. I used Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop to create the artwork for the book. I learned so much working on OLI. My familiar tools have gone through substantial updates in the five years I was gone. Learning how to work with Amazon KDP was also a challenge. Thanks to ChatGPT, I was able to create the information needed to help position the book in Amazon’s bookstore. Using my skills in this way reminds me that I still have something to offer, if given the chance.
I’m looking forward to approving the author’s proof, which should be on its way. Once that happens, I’ll let you know how to order a copy of Outside Looking In.