In a dispute with a shady moneylender, a young man under twenty years old kills him. After an emotional rollercoaster, he turns himself in to the police. The wheels of justice begin to turn. The investigating judge seems disinterested in mitigating circumstances, and the public defender shows little inclination to defend. The expert witness also appears to have made up his mind in advance and twists every word Simon says. An example is set, and Simon is sentenced to sixteen years. In the meantime, Simon has started serving his sentence early and finds himself in the difficult community of prisoners and guards, in a world with its own laws and customs that has little in common with the outside world he is supposed to be prepared for. With psychological insight, Simon Volkart describes the prison system from the first interrogations onward.