The setting is the United States of America, land of the free, yet the world's leading jailer. The U.S. prison population has reached an explosion point. Attorney and author Jack W. Cline reveals the issues involved in his powerful memoir Yardbird USA: How the United States Became the World's Leading Jailer (Musings of a Trial Lawyer). The book contains a dozen true crime cases with bizarre, humorous and unjust outcomes, but all point to a single conclusion: Politicians have made a mess of the criminal justice system, and have created a monster in the U.S. prison population. As a result of the prison population explosion of the past two decades, Americans now have more people behind bars than Russia and China combined! The cost and side effects of this fetish for incarceration is staggering. How did this happen and what can be done to stop the bleeding? Jack W. Cline is a practicing trial lawyer in western Pennsylvania. "I am very disturbed at our prison population growth, the criminal justice system being hijacked by the legislative branch, and the erosion of our liberties. The government is so far up in our business right now it is amazing that anyone can still walk." http://sbpra.com/JackWCline