Life on death row is not easy. It is tough mentally as well as physically. I never been there nor have I ever known someone there, but it is obvious that life on death row is no walk in the park to say the least. Joe Jackson and William Burke in Dead Run retell the stories of Dennis Stockton's diaries written while on death row. Stockton was a prisoner awaiting his death sentence on death row at the Mecklenberg prison in Virginia. The main objective of this book is to give the reader an inside look at prison, specifically death row. Dennis Stockton gives this look from first hand experiences. Jackson and Burke's (1999) purpose in writing this book was to show how that the people on death row are, despite what they have done to be placed there, still people. Jackson and Burke accomplish their goal by humanizing death row for the reader.
             This book is told through the perspective of one inmate, a career criminal, Dennis Stockton. Dead Run is about the time spent by Stockton on death row, and his fight for a retrial. Stockton received his death sentence in 1983 and was sent to Mecklenberg, a supposedly escape-proof prison. From the day Stockton was convicted he maintained his innocence. The book begins with his transfer to Mecklenberg. He was searched and given his new cell at the "monster factory" (Jackson and Burke, 1999, pg. 14). After a few days Stockton meets the Briley brothers, both were on death row for murdering 20+ people. Stockton then helped the Briley brothers to mastermind the only mass escape from death row. Six prisoners escaped, but Stockton was not one of them. He stayed behind maintaining that he was innocent and that some new evidence would set him free legally. Meanwhile throughout this whole time Stockton is keeping a diary of his life on death row, which included all the details!
             of the escape. Stockton's diaries revealed that with the help of corrupt prison guards t...