The sound of the judge's gavel and his pronouncement of the sentence echoed in his mind, "Death by electrocution." How had he arrived at this place in his life?

Now in a new edition, condemned men and women speak for themselves about the reality behind bars on death row.

Through thirty compelling essays written in the prisoners’ own words, Crimson Letters: Voices from Death Row offers stories of brutal beatings inside juvenile

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A searing, deeply moving memoir of illness and recovery that traces one young woman’s journey from diagnosis to remission to re-

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • A deeply reported, searingly honest portrait of the death penalty in Texas—and what it tells us about crime and punishmen