Robert Reilly speaks about his new book “Life in Prison” at the Friday Local Author Series

Friday, May 22nd at noon in Meeting Room #5

Portland, Maine - Robert Reilly will speak at Portland Public Library’s Friday Local Author Series on May 22nd at noon in Meeting Room #5.  Reilly will be giving a reading and talk about his new book, Life in Prison.  After 13 years of struggle, and despite scoring several modest recording and publishing deals, Robert Reilly found himself broke and on the edge of despair. His pursuit of success in the music business was threatening to ruin his family life. Something had to change, or something was going to break. He decided to give up his dream and take a steady job—as a prison guard.

Robert Reilly served a seven-year term as a prison guard in Pennsylvania and Maine. Entering America’s industrial prison system in search of a way to support his young family, the struggling musician found himself in a looking-glass world where, often, only the uniforms distinguished guards from prisoners.  Life in Prison chronicles the horrors of a place where justice is arbitrary, outcomes are preordained, and the private sector makes big money while the public looks away.  This is Reilly’s story of doing time.


To call the experience sobering would be the ultimate understatement: “As time crawls by, I become jealous of the inmates leaving the prison. I start to slip; I start to feel like I’m losing my faith. Any trace of innocence that I thought I still had starts to evaporate. I begin to feel trapped, imprisoned, locked in a dark heartbreaking world, just like an inmate.”


About the author
Born in England, Robert Reilly worked as a prison guard for six years, leaving the corrections system in 2007. Today he lives in midcoast Maine with his family and works as an outdoor education instructor.