The Jailhouse Lawyer
Read by
Calvin Duncan,
Aaron Goodson
Release:
07/08/2025
Runtime:
9h 17m
Quantity:
A superbly written, compelling memoir chronicling Calvin Duncan’s remarkable life and achievements as an innocent man at the infamous Angola State Prison who went on to become a self-taught, brilliant jailhouse lawyer. Although the word ‘hero’ is greatly overused in today's society, in my mind, Calvin Duncan is a hero in the truest sense of that word. I urge all who are in need of inspiration to please read this riveting account of an indomitable spirit in the face of ongoing stiff resistance.
Jim McCloskey, co-author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Framed
A USA TODAY Bestseller!
“Duncan’s story is so incredible it strains belief. It is so heartwarming and hopeful that it will stay with you for a long time.” —John Grisham
"This brilliantly told story—at once maddening and miraculous—is among the most powerful indictments of our criminal justice system I’ve ever read.” —James Forman, Jr.
A searing and ultimately hopeful account of Calvin Duncan, “the most extraordinary jailhouse lawyer of our time” (Sister Helen Prejean), and his thirty-year path through Angola after a wrongful murder conviction, his coming-of-age as a legal mind while imprisoned, and his continued advocacy for those on the inside
Calvin Duncan was nineteen when he was incarcerated for a 1981 New Orleans murder he didn’t commit. The victim of a wildly incompetent public defense system and a badly compromised witness, Duncan was left to rot in the waking nightmare of confinement. Armed with little education, he took matters into his own hands.
At twenty-one, he filed his first motion from prison: “Motion for a Law Book,” which launched his highly successful, self-taught legal career. Trapped within this wholly corrupted system, Duncan became a legal advocate for himself and his fellow prisoners as an inmate counsel at the infamous Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola. Literature sustained his hope, as he learned the law in its shadow.
During his decades of incarceration, Duncan helped hundreds of other prisoners navigate their cases, advocating for those the state had long since written off. He taught a class in the midst of Angola to empower other incarcerated men to fight for their own justice under the law. But his own case remained stalled. A defense lawyer once responded to Duncan’s request for documents: “You are not a person.”
Criminal justice reform advocate Sophie Cull met Duncan after he was finally released from prison; he began to tell her his story. Together, they’ve written a bracing condemnation of the criminal legal system, and an intimate portrait of a heroic and brilliant man’s resilience in the face of injustice.
“Duncan’s story is so incredible it strains belief. It is so heartwarming and hopeful that it will stay with you for a long time.” —John Grisham
"This brilliantly told story—at once maddening and miraculous—is among the most powerful indictments of our criminal justice system I’ve ever read.” —James Forman, Jr.
A searing and ultimately hopeful account of Calvin Duncan, “the most extraordinary jailhouse lawyer of our time” (Sister Helen Prejean), and his thirty-year path through Angola after a wrongful murder conviction, his coming-of-age as a legal mind while imprisoned, and his continued advocacy for those on the inside
Calvin Duncan was nineteen when he was incarcerated for a 1981 New Orleans murder he didn’t commit. The victim of a wildly incompetent public defense system and a badly compromised witness, Duncan was left to rot in the waking nightmare of confinement. Armed with little education, he took matters into his own hands.
At twenty-one, he filed his first motion from prison: “Motion for a Law Book,” which launched his highly successful, self-taught legal career. Trapped within this wholly corrupted system, Duncan became a legal advocate for himself and his fellow prisoners as an inmate counsel at the infamous Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola. Literature sustained his hope, as he learned the law in its shadow.
During his decades of incarceration, Duncan helped hundreds of other prisoners navigate their cases, advocating for those the state had long since written off. He taught a class in the midst of Angola to empower other incarcerated men to fight for their own justice under the law. But his own case remained stalled. A defense lawyer once responded to Duncan’s request for documents: “You are not a person.”
Criminal justice reform advocate Sophie Cull met Duncan after he was finally released from prison; he began to tell her his story. Together, they’ve written a bracing condemnation of the criminal legal system, and an intimate portrait of a heroic and brilliant man’s resilience in the face of injustice.
Release:
2025-07-08
Runtime:
9h 17m
Format:
audio
Weight:
0.0 lb
Language:
English
ISBN:
9798217072439
Praise