Author Finbar Manghan, who served as a volunteer chaplain in five state prisons for over eight years, until being abruptly dismissed without a hearing, looks at the cases of five male offenders whose collective prison time served has exceeded 70 years.  Three of them have claimed to be innocent and at least one is certainly innocent beyond any reasonable doubt.  Two admit their guilt.  One will almost certainly die in prison and the other has already, in effect, been murdered.  Each of their experiences has been tragic.

The Mysterious Story of Gitano Cervantes addresses a host of issues related to the men’s stories, including false imprisonment, medical mistreatment, mental harassment, betrayal and a false portrayal of self stemming from humiliation.  Manghan reviews the court and prison experiences of these men and explores the need for reform throughout the criminal justice system in America.