Al Kirkland grew up in the Wilbur section of Trenton, New Jersey. While living in the (hood), the streets challenged his high school education. So he quit the neighborhood gang and inundated himself with homework, in order to avoid the street life. After graduating, Al served 25 years in New Jersey’s most notorious state prison, as a Senior Correction Officer, he retired in 2007. New Jersey State Prison, which is formally known as Trenton State Prison, gave Al Kirkland the opportunity to see all of the most insidious and absurd criminals in the state prison system. Now Al is employed with the Newark Public School system where he gives celebrity readings to adolescence about his book, I.C.U, and life inside of New Jersey State Prison.