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From Guards to Guardians: Rebuilding Prisons from the Ground Up

by Nicole Daedone
About the Book

From Guards to Guardians: Rebuilding Prisons from the Ground Up is a heartfelt thank you to correctional officers, unsung heroes of our society. This invaluable guide is designed to bring dignity and humanity back to this noble profession. It is filled with their voices and their ideas. 

From Guards to Guardians includes practical exercises, powerful insights, and inspiring stories from officers who have navigated this challenging path. The immense dedication of correctional officers who ensure the care, custody, and control of their facilities goes largely unseen. This book acknowledges the unique challenges of their work and is designed to provide the tools for correctional officers to thrive, both on the job and at home.

From Guards to Guardians has been used at both the officer and administrative levels in facilities around the country. Join them on a journey in creating a corrections environment that works for officers, residents, and staff alike.

This book is available for free to all those currently or formerly working in the field of corrections. To request more information or to enroll in the free Guards to Guardians program, a part of the 501 (c)3 Unconditional Freedom, please contact [email protected] or visit unconditionalfreedom.org 

About the Author

Profile image for Nicole Daedone
Nicole Daedone
I specialize in following it where not many dare to tread. I want to know life biblically, the way a man knows a woman (or other configurations of such). I want to know the water by getting wet. Theory, commandments, concepts leave me empty, and not the good kind of emptiness. My driving question is, “Is that true?” Is it wholly true? Where and how is it true? For whom is it true and why? Can it withstand the test of time? Is it true for me as a woman? The last one has taken me off many a beaten path. Givens are often no longer givens when I ask this question. The world turns upside down. My two guiding principles are first, the idea that “I’ve come only for this.” Whatever is presented before me is mine to puzzle, to play, to explore and, finally, to love. Love leads me to my second guiding principle, how I explore, which is to ask, “Can I love this? Can I love even this?” Who is the “I” who is loving in this moment? What does love look like here? Does it require a peaceful approach, approval, power, some good, old-fashioned wrath? And then, what is “this?” I must leave who I believe myself to be to answer this question—to know and love what this is on its terms and not on mine. As a free woman I want all things to be free, liberated from any ideas I would impose on them. My work remains what it once and always was: to turn poison into medicine and make it available to those who want it.