Prison Writings in 20th-Century America

"Harrowing in their frank detail and desperate tone, the selections in this anthology pack an emotional wallop...Should be required reading for anyone concerned about the violence in our society and the high rate of recidivism."-- Publishers Weekly. Includes work by: Jack London, Nelson Algren, Chester Himes,Jack Henry Abbott, Robert Lowell, Malcolm X, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and Piri Thomas.

Tom Wicker covered American politics at The New York Times from 1960 to the early 1990s, when he succeeded Arthur Krock as writer of the “In the Nation” column. He is the author of several books of nonfiction, including One of Us: Richard Nixon and the American Dream, and JFK and LBJ, as well as several novels.

Acknowledgments

ix

Foreword

xi

Tom Wicker

Introduction

1

(20)

FROM PLANTATION TO PENITENTIARY

Plantation Prison

21

(8)

Autobiography of an Imprisoned Peon (1904)

21

(8)

Songs of The Prison Plantation

29

(8)

``Go Down Old Hannah''

31

(2)

``Midnight Special''

33

(1)

``Easy Rider''

34

(3)

THE EARLY MODERN AMERICAN PRISON

Jack London

37

(20)

```Pinched': A Prison Experience'' and ``The Pen: Long Days in a County Penitentiary'' (1907)

38

(19)

Donald Lowrie

57

(4)

from My Life in Prison (1912)

58

(3)

Agnes Smedley

61

(12)

``Cell Mates'' (1920)

63

(10)

Kate Richards O'Hare

73

(16)

from Crime and Criminals (1921)

74

(15)

Jim Tully

89

(13)

``A California Holiday'' (1928)

90

(12)

Ernest Booth

102

(17)

``Ladies in Durance Vile'' (1931)

103

(16)

Chester Himes

119

(10)

``To What Red Hell?'' (1934)

120

(9)

Nelson Algren

129

(12)

``El Presidente de Mejico'' (1947)

130

(11)

Robert Lowell

141

(6)

``Memories of West Street and Lepke'' (1959)

142

(5)

THE MOVEMENT AND THE PRISON

Malcolm X

147

(8)

from The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965)

149

(6)

George Jackson

155

(11)

from Soledad Brother (1970)

157

(9)

Iceberg Slim (Robert Beck)

166

(12)

from The Naked Soul of Iceberg Slim (1971)

168

(10)

Mshaka (Willie Monroe)

178

(1)

``Formula for Attica Repeats'' (1974)

179

(1)

Piri Thomas

179

(8)

from Seven Long Times (1974)

181

(6)

Jack Henry Abbott

187

(13)

from In the Belly of the Beast (1981)

189

(11)

Assata Shakur (JoAnne Chesimard)

200

(17)

from Assata (1987)

201

(16)

THE LITERARY RENAISSANCE

Malcolm Braly

217

(13)

from On the Yard (1967)

218

(12)

Etheridge Knight

230

(3)

``The Warden Said to Me the Other Day'' (1968)

231

(1)

``Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane'' (1968)

231

(1)

``For Freckle-Faced Gerald'' (1968)

232

(1)

Paul Mariah

233

(6)

``Quarry/Rock: A Reality Poem in the Tradition of Genet'' (1969)

234

(3)

``Always We Watch Them'' (1970)

237

(1)

``Shakedown & More'' (1971)

238

(1)

Norma Stafford

239

(3)

``In Santa Cruz'' (1972)

239

(1)

``The Gone One'' (1973)

240

(2)

William Wantling

242

(3)

from ``Sestina to San Quentin'' (1973)

242

(1)

``Poetry'' (1973)

243

(1)

``Who's Bitter?'' (1973)

244

(1)

Michael Hogan

245

(3)

``Spring'' (1975)

246

(1)

``Confessions of a Jailhouse Lawyer'' (1975)

247

(1)

Carolyn Baxter

248

(4)

``Lower Court'' (1979)

248

(1)

``35 Years a Correctional Officer'' (1979)

249

(1)

``On Being Counted'' (1979)

250

(2)

Jimmy Santiago Baca

252

(4)

``The New Warden'' (1979)

253

(1)

``The County Jail'' (1979)

254

(1)

``I Applied for the Board'' (1982)

255

(1)

Jackie Ruzas

256

(3)

``Easy to Kill'' (1975)

257

(1)

``The Bus Ride'' (1983)

257

(2)

Edward Bunker

259

(21)

from Little Boy Blue (1981)

260

(20)

Nathan C. Heard

280

(10)

from House of Slammers (1983)

281

(9)

Charles Culhane

290

(4)

``Of Cold Places'' (1984)

292

(1)

``Autumn Yard'' (1985)

292

(1)

``First Day of Hanukkah'' (1986)

293

(1)

Patricia McConnel

294

(12)

``Sing Soft, Sing Loud'' (1989)

295

(11)

Kim Wozencraft

306

(12)

from Notes from the Country Club (1993)

307

(11)

Jerome Washington

318

(11)

``Diamond Bob'' (1994)

319

(2)

``The Blues Merchant'' (1994)

321

(1)

``Nobody's Hoss'' (1994)

322

(2)

``Barracuda and Sheryl'' (1994)

324

(1)

``Shing-a-Ling and China'' (1994)

324

(5)

Kathy Boudin

329

(8)

``Our Skirt'' (1997)

330

(2)

``The Call'' (1997)

332

(5)

THE AMERICAN GULAG TODAY

Dannie Martin (``Red Hog'')

337

(13)

``AIDS: The View from a Prison Cell'' (1986)

338

(3)

``A Prescription for Torture'' (1990)

341

(4)

``A Mount Everest of Time'' (1990)

345

(5)

Mumia Abu-Jamal

350

(7)

``B-Block Days and Nightmares'' (1990)

351

(3)

``Skeleton Bay'' (1993)

354

(2)

``Already Out of the Game'' (1994)

356

(1)

Jimmy Santiago Baca

357

(1)

``Past Present'' (1992)

358

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Prison Writings in 20th-Century America

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials