Rebel Hell

Book excerpt: Novelist Jan Smitowicz was arrested in 2010 after an illegal search and seizure, eventually spending two years in Illinois state prisons. Rebel Hell: Disabled Vegan Goes to Prison is a captivating, profoundly intimate memoir about his descent into the kaleidoscopic "Prison Vortex." A darkly funny narrative filled with endless bureaucratic absurdity and shocking corruption, like the state's unbelievable offer to cut Smitowicz's plea deal nearly in half-if he paid a $25,000 "fine," encouraging him to literally buy a reduced sentence! Smitowicz maintains a fearless devotion to the unadulterated truth, no matter how brutal or degrading. His pitch-black humor and sociopolitical audacity run roughshod over every scorched target. Ultimately, Rebel Hell coalesces into a disturbing microcosm of contemporary U.S. society-and an unforgettably original story.