In December 1971, 7-year-old Randy Liberty joined his mother and three brothers on a journey to Maine State Prison for a Christmas party. There, they received presents from Santa Claus, or a reasonable facsimile. The Liberty family’s attendance was due to the presence of Inmate #12939, Randy’s father, Ronnie Liberty.
Randy grew up and returned to Maine State Prison as the facility’s warden and later received an appointment as the state’s commissioner of corrections. His unlikely odyssey is recalled in this autobiography, “Liberty’s Prison: The Inmate’s Son Who Radically Reformed an American Prison,” which Liberty co-wrote with Christine Graf.
