• Maximum Insecurity

  • A Doctor in the Supermax
  • By: William Wright M.D.
  • Narrated by: Eric Martin
  • Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (185 ratings)

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Maximum Insecurity  By  cover art

Maximum Insecurity

By: William Wright M.D.
Narrated by: Eric Martin
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Publisher's summary

After three decades as a successful ear surgeon, William Wright, MD is bored beyond belief. He dabbles with retirement, but finds idleness infuriating. He has to do something. Then he sees an ad for a doctor’s position from the Colorado Department of Corrections at a supermax prison. Now that, he thinks, would be different. His wife has some thoughts on the matter too. She thinks her husband just lost his mind and is on a collision course with a prison shiv.

After his first day on the job, he wonders if she wasn’t onto something. His first patient is an arrogant, callous youth convicted of five cold-blooded murders. Dr. Wright has to steel himself not to bolt.

Nothing prepares a doctor for life at the Colorado State Penitentiary. He quickly discovers treating maximum security convicts is like treating recalcitrant murderous four-year-olds. Always willing to threaten their doctors with bodily harm, they are more interested in scamming drugs than treatment.

Told with self-depreciating humor and scathing wit, Maximum Insecurity describes Dr. Wright’s adventures practicing medicine in a supermax correctional facility without, he’s glad to say, getting killed even once.

©2013 William Wright, M.D. (P)2014 William Wright, M.D.

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What listeners say about Maximum Insecurity

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Entertaining and engaging

I used to work in medical corrections so I could totally relate to the author's experience. My only complaint is that he repeats things quite often. It didn't distract from the story as a whole, but didn't add to it and was annoying to listen to the same lines. Other than that the book was entertaining, informative, and engaging.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Funny and Fantastic

It's one of the most entertaining audible books-ever!
Funny, true to life, narration and dialogue at its best especially the inmates.
You are noble, Dr. Wright !

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

6 Stars if I could!!

Dr. Wright is a completely likable person, and he is noticeably talented. His journey into the correctional system is very honest and enlightening, and his book is superbly written. He initially goes into the supermax prison with a worry for his life, but after the first day, he realizes that the majority of inmates are basically a bunch of whiny babies. The book is really interesting, and his interactions with the various inmates are really comical, but he also speaks quite seriously about his observations on the flaws of the correctional system.

Eric Martin’s narration is absolutely perfect. It feels like Dr. Wright is in the room with you telling his stories, and he makes all the different inmates come to life. He truly has a talent for narration! I can’t even imagine myself ever reading a physical copy of this book because his performance is altogether outstanding.

There are few chapters in this book that make me laugh out loud every single time, and I often return to this title when I am between audiobooks. I highly recommend Maximum Insecurity! If the summary of this book has peaked your interest you should definitely pick it up!

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5 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Bad in so many ways

The author of this book is an arrogant jerk. The entire book is focused on criticizing his coworkers and boasting about how he is superior to everyone. Being an RN, I took major offense to his comment that nurses aren’t supposed to think, they are simply supposed to follow doctors’ orders. If he is ever faced with a major medical issue that requires hospitalization, he better damn well pray he has nurses that can think and save his life if needed. I would love to know the real reason he left behind the prestige of being a surgeon and the high salary that accompanies it. No one in their right mind would give that up for the low rank and salary of a prison doctor without being forced into it.

Aside from my disdain for the author’s personality and disrespect towards others, it’s simply not a good book. It seems like random chapters were written over time and then assembled haphazardly at the last minute. There is no flow or order to the book and it contains a lot of repetition...the same stories in multiple chapters. The other thing I found odd is that he never talks about the most prevalent health issue among the prison population, which is mental illness.

I’ve never taken the time to write a book review before, but felt compelled to with this one. I don’t understand why others have rated it so high and I definitely do not recommend wasting your time and money on this.

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4 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

what a jerk

the author is a real piece of work. arrogant, self-aggrandizing and all-around jerk. everyone around him is stupid, including his coworkers, convicts, corrections officers, nurses and other doctors. apparently nobody else is allowed to have a bad attitude except for him. the narrator was trying to do his best Jack Nicholson impression it seemed. I had to turn it up to 1.5 for it to be normal speaking pace. I thought it would be full of funny anecdotes but it's just a guy that's full of himself. give it a miss unless you really want to dislike somebody, that would be the author not the convicts.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great book

Where does Maximum Insecurity rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

toward the top

What was one of the most memorable moments of Maximum Insecurity?

the honesty of the doctor, about really goes on in the Maximum jail

What does Eric Martin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

the dry sense of humor

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

laugh

Any additional comments?

the author did a great job telling about his change in careers without bragging - he tells what it like to work for a government agency, without being unduly critical

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4 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Doctor’s disdain for patients uncomfortable

I enjoy medical narratives- this doctor’s extreme dislike for his patients and complete disdain for them was surprising and disturbing. It’s hours of mocking stories, read only if that appeals to you.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Risky but essential work.

Would you consider the audio edition of Maximum Insecurity to be better than the print version?

Possibly. I didn't read the print version. The audio version is excellent, with terrific narration by Eric Martin.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Since this is about real people and not literary characters, I won't be picking any favorites.

Which scene was your favorite?

Not a scene-based work, either. Dr. Wright tells plenty of fascinating, sometimes disturbing stories, but they are not scenes.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Medicine in the Supermax

Any additional comments?

Prison life manages to simultaneously attract our interest and repel our sympathies. Dr. Wright dove in to that system and learned quickly--both learning and speed of learning were essential--how to handle his daily roster of dangerous, manipulative patients. He shares with the reader/listener a wide variety of his experiences with the criminal clientele and with the prison staff and administration. Dr. Wright is an open, honest author with a dry sense of humor. He understands the crafty nature of most of the prisoners and avoids playing co-dependent to their various deficiencies. But Dr. Wright also has compassion for these people, and strives to help them whenever possible. I enjoyed this book so much that I snapped up its sequel, Jailhouse Doc. Serving as a jail doc turned out to be quite a different experience for Dr. Wright. I highly recommend both books.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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A missed opportunity

Almost finished with this one, and I'm disappointed. The author's inability to see his patients as people ensures that he's not going to get to the broader issues of social failings that have led to the disproportionate incarceration of minorities in the U.S. Instead, he rails against the bureaucracy of the penal system, a system he has chosen to work for, while repeatedly judging the men he has pledged to serve. The book is repetitive and lacks any serious discussion of how these men came to make terrible choices and to commit deplorable offenses. It's a missed opportunity that does nothing to further the national discourse on crime and punishment in our society.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great book!

What a great book! Dr. Wright is funny, he shares his interesting experience working within the prison as an MD. A paramedic, he and I alike have had similar experiences working in Correctional Medicine.

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