Lessons From a Drug Lord: The Most Unexpected Lessons from the Most Unexpected Person

Author Bio: Shaun Attwood

Shaun Attwood arrived in Phoenix, Arizona, a penniless business graduate from a small industrial town in England. Within a decade, he became a stock-market millionaire. But he was leading a double life. After taking his first Ecstasy pill at a rave in Manchester as a shy student, Shaun became intoxicated by the party lifestyle that would change his fortune. He ended up in the jail with the highest rate of death in America, where not only gang members but even guards were murdering prisoners. Shaun documented the conditions using a golf pencil sharpened on the door. Facing a life sentence, Shaun entered a lengthy legal battle, eventually serving almost six years. While incarcerated, he submerged himself in literature—reading over one thousand books, including many classics. Shaun was released in December 2007 and in 2008 won a Koestler Award for a short story, which he read to an audience at the Royal Festival Hall. Shaun presently lives near London and talks to audiences of young people across the United Kingdom and Europe about his experiences and the consequences of getting involved in drugs and crime.