About the Book

AP Photo/John Locher
Ely State Prison - where Frank De Palma spent 22+ years in solitary confinement.

By Mary Buser

Hi! I’m Mary, and I collaborated with Frank on Never to Surrender!  I first met Frank in March of 2021 when he and I testified before the Nevada Senate Judiciary Committee about the horror of solitary confinement. Since I had worked in the Rikers Island solitary confinement unit as an assistant chief of mental health, I was to speak about it from the perspective of a civilian healthcare worker. The only other person to testify was Frank, who’d been solitary for decades. Because of the covid lockdown, the hearing was via zoom; Frank and I first met in the zoom waiting room, where we exchanged a few pleasantries. And then it was time. Frank went first, relaying his horrific experience – of spending twenty-two years and thirty-six days in a concrete cell, staring at a wall, forced to extract his own teeth — catatonic for the last six years.

Frank’s testimony was devastating, and when he finished, the legislators sat in stunned silence as did I. I’d never met anyone who’d spent that length of time in isolation, and I could not begin to imagine what this man had been through. I also could not imagine what I could possibly add that could begin to eclipse Frank’s powerful testimony. I had been an observer of this suffering, but not directly impacted by it. I basically wanted to slink out of there, but I dutifully testified as to my own observations about solitary. 

Afterward, Frank’s testimony stayed with me, and I wanted to learn more about this man, so we started to chat. Despite all he had been through, he was friendly and pleasant. As we talked, I was astonished to learn that he had spent forty-three years in prison, beginning when he was just eighteen — on a charge that should have gotten him out in two years. The reasons he was not released in two years, and what happened to him in the decades between eighteen and sixty-two years of age was astounding. I thought the world should know more about life inside the cut-off world of prison. Having already written a book about my own work on Rikers Island, I thought the complexity of Frank’s life experiences would be best expressed through a book. When I learned that Frank had already done considerable writing about his life on his own, I knew it was meant to be.

Frank and I rolled up our sleeves and got to work, a considerable task as we needed to sketch out a forty-year timeline. But Frank’s long-term memory is excellent, as is his ability to paint pictures with words. We worked well together and as time went on, we became more than book collaborators – we became friends. But my relationship with Frank wasn’t solely about his prison story – it was also about learning what it is for a man in his sixties to emerge from a lifetime in prison and try to make it in an unfamiliar world. Faced with poverty, homelessness, failing health, and the stigma of incarceration, his odds of surviving were daunting. But then again, Frank De Palma is a fighter – a man who has faced seemingly insurmountable odds his entire life, not the least of which was the torture of solitary confinement. Frank never gave up, and with the support of numerous people, the generosity of GoFundMe contributors, and on sheer faith, Frank is telling his story, not only for his own sake, but for the thousands of others who are still suffering inside – those forgotten people he will not forget.

Getting to know Frank De Palma and writing this book has been a harder journey than I ever could have imagined — but a journey I wouldn’t have traded for the world.

“In a “life or death and no in-between” prison, with constant violence and threats of rape, a man has to fight, be enslaved or die. Frank De Palma’s grit permitted him to survive the fights only to be punished with 22 years of solitary confinement. His toughness and integrity earned him the respect of prison gladiators and guards alike, and now, free at last, he provides a thrilling and seamlessly vibrant account of the entire ordeal, including lessons from “Inside” that offer invaluable wisdom about our human condition.”

Terry A. Kupers, M.D., M.S.P., author of Prison Madness, & Solitary: The Inside Story of Supermax Isolation

“Never to Surrender! is a gut-wrenching tale where solitary confinement is used to torture and destroy what is left in a person who is trying to survive prison — and the people who run it.”

Karen Gedney, M.D., author of 30 Years Behind Bars: Trials of a Prison Doctor

"The day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, sanitation workers marching in Memphis carried signs that said, “I am a man.” Frank De Palma is a man. A man who was treated like an animal, forced to endure the worst form of torture: isolation. Frank De Palma languished in solitary confinement for 22 years and 36 days in a prison not in some far away land, but right here in the United States. Across those 22 years he battled for his brain, for his sanity, for his life, for human connection. His is a story of tragedy but also of the fierceness of the human spirit, not only to survive but to thrive."

Angela Hattery, PhD, Professor, University of Delaware, and author of Way Down in the Hole: Race, Intimacy, and the Reproduction of Racial Ideologies in Solitary Confinement

"Frank De Palma’s new book is a tour de force. Frank’s ability to share his story is almost seamless and simply amazing. Like many books from those who have been lucky enough to survive prison—let alone solitary confinement—Never to Surrender! 22 Years in Solitary: One Man’s Battle for his Soul in a U. S. Prison takes us inside; inside of what those 22 years and 36 days (43 years total behind bars, beginning when he was 18 years old) really were like. HELL! Highly recommend; a must-read!"

Earl Smith, PhD, Professor, University of Delaware, and author of Way Down in the Hole: Race, Intimacy, and the Reproduction of Racial Ideologies in Solitary Confinement

"Horrendous prison conditions have long been conveniently ignored by U.S. lawmakers. The abusive use of solitary confinement, however, has at least begun to be acknowledged and is sparking efforts at legislative reform. Such campaigns will receive a major boost from Never to Surrender! Mr. De Palma tells a remarkable story of suffering but also of resilience. His book is powerful evidence that long-term isolation is torture – a torture that not only hurts the victim, but also calls into question our belief in ourselves as a moral and just society."

Juan E. Mendez, Professor of Human Rights Law in Residence, Washington College of Law, and Former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (2010-2016)