Lifeline To A Soul by John K. McLaughlin + Author Interview

Book Details:

Book Title:  Lifeline to a Soul by John K. McLaughlin
Category:  Adult Non-Fiction (18+), 234 pages
Genre:  Memoir
Publisher:  Lifeline Education Connection
Release date:   April, 2023
Content Rating: PG + M

Book Description:

Lifeline to a Soul takes the reader inside the fence and chronicles the victories and challenges one man faced as a first-time teacher in the strange world of prison life.

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Author Interview with John K McLaughlin

What inspired you to write this book?

This book is about a real life event, my teaching experience inside a minimum-security prison.  I spent over twenty years building a business and had a strong desire to teach what I had learned to others.  In seven years of applying for a variety of jobs, my only offer was to teach in a prison camp.  Although teaching in a prison was never my plan, since it was my only opportunity to teach, I accepted the job and am very thankful that I did.  

I took the job to teach and never had any intentions of writing about the experience, but I realized that I had spent time in a place that was very unfamiliar to almost everyone, and by sharing my experience, I could take the reader through the gate with me and let them see what life inside a prison is like and also share the change in perspective I experienced towards the incarcerated and the entire correctional system.

Can you tell me about the book?

The book tells the story of a first time teacher in a strange new world.  On my first day as a teacher I told my students that I was going to learn a lot more from them than they could possibly learn from me, and I was right.  The book will enlighten the reader on the prison system that, by design, dehumanizes its inhabitants.  I’m not saying that this is wrong, I think the dehumanization process is necessary to run a prison properly.  Dehumanization eliminates favoritism and keeps everyone in lockstep and following the rules. The people in charge have to have an “us versus them” mentality or the structure of the prison will suffer.  

What I learned from the experience is that prisons hold many people who could never function normally in society but they also hold many people with tremendous potential who have made only one mistake.  It’s usually a really bad mistake, but many people serving prison terms have learned from their mistake and are ready and able to move forward in life and leave the prison experience behind them. Unfortunately, when you treat everyone the same, you deny much needed resources to people who need them to change their lives and break free of the prison recidivism cycle.

Resources such as?

Educational opportunities.  The internet is banned in almost all prisons, so what I learned was that a person who has served a ten year sentence has fallen ten years behind on how things are done in this world.  I had students who had no familiarity with Netflix or Ticketmaster.  A person with a felony is going to struggle to find a good job, but add to that a lack of experience with current technologies and you are limiting a lot of very talented people to menial jobs upon their release. 

What did you learn when writing the book?

The writing process gave me an opportunity to relive the experience: the good days and the challenging days, the interesting people I met and above all the amazing opportunity I was given to teach what I had learned to over a hundred people who could change the direction of their lives with the information.  As readers will learn, I had some incredible experiences that I wouldn’t trade for anything. 

As far as the writing experience, I learned how much I love to tell a story.  This was a great project for me and an opportunity to branch out in a new direction.  That said, if I wasn’t stuck at home for a few years due to COVID, I would have probably never had enough spare time to write this story.

What surprised you the most?

Through the teaching experience?  What surprised me the most was how much I could identify with the plight of certain inmates.  I made some major mistakes when I was growing up as the readers will learn, and could have easily found myself serving time in a prison in my early 20s.  The difference between me and many of the men I met is that I was born white and middle-class. When I was caught doing wrong, it was “boys will be boys” and the authorities would take me home and let my parents deal with the situation.  Someone with a different skin color from a lower income neighborhood would have likely been treated much differently.

The statistics back this up and as I developed as a teacher, I would tell my classes, “Don’t break the law unless you are rich, white, and well-educated” and from what I could tell, there weren’t a whole lot of rich, white, and well-educated inmates where I taught.

What does the title mean?

Of the many things I learned teaching in prison, I learned that an early prison sentence often leads to another prison sentence, and sometimes another.   I had a few men tell me that they used to go visit their father in prison and now their son visits them.  Going in and out of prison can become a lifestyle and it takes a tremendous toll on the people with prison sentences and their families. 

As an entrepreneurship teacher, I felt like my job first and foremost was to convince my students that they didn’t have to spend the rest of their lives returning to prison if they didn’t want to.  They could get out and start their own business and their criminal record wouldn’t hold them back from that pursuit.  I thought that if I could improve the direction of one person’s life it would be worth it because it would likely also enhance the life of their future generations.

This process made me I feel like I was throwing a lifeline to a drowning man, but the big problem I had was most of the men I was throwing a lifeline to had no idea they were drowning.  They considered the prison experience to be part of their identity.

What did the subjects of the book think of it?

The people whose permission I received to use their real names were excited for the book and hopefully it will bring some attention to the successful businesses they have started.

What are your students doing now?

Two of the people I met in this experience are now working for my company.  Many others have started and are running successful small businesses.  In the epilogue of the book I list the people I kept up with who are doing well.

What advice would you give a first time author?

First and foremost, enjoy the process.  Writing is an opportunity to share what you have experienced and learned and also a means of getting your message to the world.  My goal in all this is not as much to sell books, as it is to bring awareness to the reader of how our prison system could be improved. That’s a message worth sending.  

What’s next for you as an author?

This is very likely my first and only book. I currently have the good fortune of working with Tavares James, the founder of Lifeline Education Connection.  Together, we have a program in place that will help those that have faced obstacles in their lives move forward.  We focus on teaching financial literacy and the principles of entrepreneurship and are ready to bring our classes anywhere we can help people make positive changes to their lives.

Meet the Author:

John McLaughlin spent half his life bootstrapping his start-up business to an industry leader. His desire to teach what he spent his career learning led him on a remarkable journey through the gates of a minimum-security prison where he taught entrepreneurship for almost three years. John has an MBA, a teaching certificate, and a marketing management certificate from Harvard Extension University. John enjoys riding a tandem bicycle with his wonderful wife, Reba on the greenways of Charlotte, North Carolina where they live with two extremely spoiled cats, Moe and Joe. You can learn more about John’s current teaching program at: https://www.lifelinetoasoul.com/

connect to the author: website

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Win a $25 Starbucks Gift Card courtesy of the author of LIFELINE TO A SOUL (one winner) (USA only) (ends May 12)

LIFELINE TO A SOUL Spotlight Book Tour Giveaway