The document provides backstory and context for the young adult dystopian novel "Furnace Penitentiary" by Alexander Gordon Smith. It describes Furnace Penitentiary as the world's most secure underground prison for young offenders, located a mile beneath the earth's surface. The main character, Alex Sawyer, is sent to Furnace after being convicted of a murder he didn't commit. He must find a way to escape or resign himself to spending the rest of his life in the prison, where death is not the greatest threat and strange, evil creatures lurk in the darkness.