The Laboratory contains the formula for staying out of jail, in school and on the right path. Utilizing real examples, personal experiences and anecdotes, retired warden Howard Robertson de-glorifies jail and talks frankly about the negative aspects of being incarcerated. The readers are educated on the perils of gangs, drugs, bullying, dropping out of school, associating with the wrong crowd, making excuses and failing to set high goals for themselves. The major source of the information contained in the book came from adolescent and adult inmates who were incarcerated on Riker's Island during the course of Warden Robertson's illustrious career. The other source came from the hard knock experiences that Warden Robertson learned from as a young man growing up in a drug infested neighborhood in Jamaica Queens, New York. This authenticity gives this book (THE LABORATORY) real value.