It's 2011 and Don is homeless. He's a hard-core, street-level drug addict. He's a secluded loner, and he's been declared by the courts to be insane. And as if that weren't enough, he's also served over twenty years in prison for bank robberies - and he's been charged with yet another one.

It's 2018 and Don is a homeowner. He's sober and has genuine friends. He's married and he's become the father of two young boys. He's the Director of Software Development for an international financial services company. He's also a transformational speaker, helping others by spreading a message of hope and self-forgiveness.

The Prison Within: A Memoir of Breaking Free is the true, inspirational story of how despair and extreme isolation miraculously turned to hope, connection, and true success.

The journey begins as an out of control train wreck, twisting downward through the madness of seedy drug motels, mental institutions, and prison yards. But Don's path takes a desperate turn, and a slow climb leads to personal awakening, transformation, and healing that propels him upward to make an astonishing comeback.

"Cummins is a writer who isn't afraid to lay it all out there...he expertly deconstruct[s] the ideas that society has of people who have pasts as colorful as his. With compassion and sensitivity, toward both himself and the people around him, he brings us into his past and all that brought him out of it." - Independent Book Review

"[G]ripping...a priceless resource, an offer of light for people fighting their way through what seems to be hopeless darkness." - Indie Reader

"A masterfully written book loaded with not only insight and wisdom but lessons that will help anyone change their life or discover in themselves the key to unlocking the door to their own freedom." - Readers Favorite