A compelling true story about a young man who ventured on the wrong path despite a mother's best efforts to keep him on the straight-and-narrow path. This honest collection of memoirs written by Charles Carpenter while in the confines of California's notoriously violent state prison (New Folsom) depicts Mr. Carpenter's early years and details what led to his membership with the faction of Crips known as "Tray-Five-Seven." The book explains how a young man became fixated on a life of crime and through a distorted perception, viewed the gang subculture as a normal way of life. The Charles Carpenter story is a brutally honest account of his experiences in various juvenile facilities during the 1980's and the members of various gangs he met during his unfortunate stints of incarceration.