Letters for the Ages Behind Bars is a history of imprisonment told through the letters of people incarcerated over many centuries, for crimes committed or sometimes even for no reason at all. It is a story that runs from St Paul right up to the present day.
The act of depriving someone of their liberty is one of humankind's most enduring responses to 'crime' through history. What society has sought to achieve over the years by doing so has shifted across the centuries and there is now a variety of purposes: to express disapproval; for the purpose of straight-up punishment through the removal of freedom; to protect the general public; to rehabilitate, perhaps even to forget about those with whom we simply cannot cope.
The letters assembled here come from all parts of the world, and from time immemorial: Thomas Cromwell, Mary Queen of Scots, Eamon De Valera, Al Capone, Martin Luther King and many more.
These letters not only reveal what it is like to be behind bars, but raise issues that are still of pressing interest for us today - such as the death penalty, miscarriages of justice, redemption and social change. They shed light on a system which is primarily one of contradictions there are letters which inspire, horrify, letters which awe and condemn even letters which make you laugh or cry.
A collection of letters written through the ages from historical figures who have been incarcerated, including Anne Boleyn, Bertrand Russell, Sylvia Pankhurst and Al Capone.Papildus informācija
A collection of letters written through the ages from historical figures who have been incarcerated, including Anne Boleyn, Bertrand Russell, Sylvia Pankhurst and Al Capone.
Acknowledgements
Editorial Conventions
Foreword: Jonathan Aitken
CHAPTER ONE: CONFESSION AND CONDEMNATION
Whoever comes into the witch prison must become a witch or be tortured until
he invents something out of his head
Johannes Juniuss false confession, 1628
We justly fear that we were sadly deluded and mistaken
Too little too late: the Salem witch trial jurors apologize, 1697
Either kill me or accept me as I am, for may hell freeze over if I ever
change
The Marquis de Sade refuses to change, 1783
The people, one day disillusioned, will rejoice in being delivered from a
tyrant
The Angel of Assassination, 1793
The only thing that lies heavily on my heart is your sorrow
The assassination of Alexander II, 1881
I do know I shal [ sic] have to answer before my Maker in Heaven for the
awful crimes I have committed
The Baby Farmer, 1896
Its too late now to rake over ashes in the hope of finding some live coal
Edith Thompson accepts her fate, 1922
I felt excitement, a thrill. I was going to kill a person
Richard Hickock admits to the Clutter murders, 1961
'We all made it that night but barely!
The great escape: an Alcatraz escapee comes forward, 2013
CHAPTER TWO: INJUSTICE
If I am a monster, God be merciful to me
The trial of Rebecca Lemp, 1590
I want to do justice to myself and to others
Escaping slavery: Anthony Chases harrowing story, 1827
I do worry about customers watches left in the empty house
Corrie ten Booms clock code, 1944
One day Mummy and Daddy will return and you will no longer be orphans
without a home
Nelson Mandela comforts his daughters from afar, 1969
He was free for a while. I guess thats more than most of us can expect
A Soledad Brother, 1970
It would not be right to return him to prison
The Maguire Seven and the Guildford Four, 1980
I did my best to fight the injustices I found in my society
The Ogoni Nine, 1994
I demand that we be treated like human beings, not slaves
Nadya Tolokonnikovas hunger strike, 2013
No one knew where Id fallen; I was entirely cut off from the outside
world
Ai Weiweis house arrest, 2016
CHAPTER THREE: NEGOTIATION
An old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus
Paul the Apostle urges Philemon to forgive, 5762 CE
Try me, good King, but let me have a Lawful Trial
Anne Boleyns final plea, 1536
The frail flesh incites me continually to call to your Grace for mercy
Thomas Cromwells fall from grace, 1540
He esteemed it to be of greater value than all else that he left at
Gardiners Island
Captain Kidds lost treasure, 1699
Do not force me to be my own executioner
Written in blood: a letter from the Bastille, 1761
Your petitioner therefore prays that his sentence of transportation across
the seas, may be carried into effect, with as little delay
Prison in pastures new: George Hey transportation request, 1845
It will be to your interest to come and see me
Billy the Kid strikes a deal, 1881
I have consequently resolved to escape
Winston Churchills prison break, 1899
I was not a responsible leader, and as such do not feel myself guilty
Adolf Eichmann refuses to accept responsibility, 1962
CHAPTER FOUR: LIFE BEHIND BARS
Our longest day coincides exactly with your shortest; and vice versa
An exile in Botany Bay, 1791
Never before have I witnessed [ sic] such disgraceful proceedings
Christmas in the workhouse, 1868
Suicides are as common as picnics here
Ohio Penitentiarys night druggist, 1898
I took the drama, the most objective form known to art, and made it as
personal a mode of expression as the lyric or the sonnet
Oscar Wildes De Profundis, 1897
I hope to be home this year unless this blessed war never finishes or we get
blown off the map
William A. Alldritts secret code, 1916
I saw myself, for the first time for over three months, the other day, and
it is quite amusing to meet yourself as a stranger
Constance Markievicz keeps her spirits high, 1916
Being prisoner of [ war] does not agree with me
John Alcock finds himself in enemy waters, 1917
I have given up the bad habit of imagining the war may be over some day
Bertrand Russells pacifist protests, 1918
Between Dev and freedom there is only this key
Éamon de Valeras festive escape, 1918
I was in prison thirteen months in all
Adolf Hitler serves time for the Munich Putsch, 1925
I play my music, until 3 P.M., and from 3 P.M. I write songs
Al Capones Alcatraz band, 1938
My love, Im not bored, Im very cheerful
Jean-Paul Sartre sunbathes behind bars, 1940
You must go on.. Be strong!
Charles Salvadors words of support, 2017
CHAPTER FIVE: TAKING A STAND
The blood of the poor murdered people sits heavy on their heads
The Peterloo Massacre, 1819
Society has used her ill and turned away from her, and she cannot be
expected to take much heed of its rights or wrongs
Charles Dickens home for fallen women, 1846
A sight so inconceivably awful as the wickedness and levity of the immense
crowd collected at that execution could be imagined by no man
Debating public executions, 1849
You would at long last be able to breathe the air of liberty again, for over
here the air is as free as it ever can be in a capitalist society
August Bebel becomes a socialist celebrity, 1887
The terror of a child in prison is quite limitless
The plight of child convicts, 1897
I am afraid they may be saying we dont resist. Yet my shoulders are bruised
with struggling whilst they hold the tube into my throat
Sylvia Pankhurst keeps fighting, 1913
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere
Martin Luther King Jrs Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963
If were supposed to become the nails in the coffin of a tyrant, Id like to
become one of those nails. Just know that this particular one will not bend
Oleg Sentsov makes a stand, 2016
In my isolation I can only build a fragmented picture of what the world
outside looks like
Alaa Abd El-Fattahs absentee convention address, 2017
When will I be able to fulfil my duties as a doctor in fighting the menace
of Coronavirus?
Coping with COVID behind bars, 2020
CHAPTER SIX: FROM THE SCAFFOLD
I am to be executed like a criminal
The last words of Mary, Queen of Scots, 1587
Thy mourning cannot avail me, I am but dust
Sir Walter Raleighs last will and testament, 1603
I experience the tranquillity of mind ever attending a guiltless
conscience
Marie Antoinette faces the guillotine, 1793
The quick rattle and heavy fall of the axe
Byron and the Master of Justice, 1817
The head which was creating, living with the highest life of art, which had
realised and grown used to the highest needs of the spirit, that head has
already been cut off
Dostoevsky avoids the firing squad, 1849
The sentence of The Law shall be Carried out in Due Form by me as
Executioner
William Marwood and the Long Drop, 1873
It has allways [ sic] been my one desire to become the Hangman
Applying to be an executioner, 1910
I played my last match last week and lost. Tomorrow I am to be shot
The Easter Rising, 1916
Dont let my body lie here get me back to the green hill by Murlough
The man hanged for a comma, 1916
20 years which quickly passes so they can come out, and do their slaughter
again
In support of the death penalty, 1938
The special moments keep me hopeful
The letter James Foley never wrote down, 2014
CHAPTER SEVEN: SEEKING REDEMPTION
Not by this path will I return to my native city
Dante in exile, 1315
Come now and spend your last happy years in your homeland, surrounded by
great peace and glory!
Benvenuto Cellini entices Michelangelo to return home, 1560
I am a year and a half old in misery
Francis Bacon tries to save his reputation, 1621
We have known each other now for more than four years. Half of the time we
have been together: the other half I have had to spend in prison
Oscar Wilde: love and scandal, 1897
I have tried to think of everything knowing this will be my last letter to
you
The Crippen affair, 1910
I can safely tell you that he will rob no banks, but it is his firm
intention to travel in the path of righteousness
Public enemy number one: John Dillingers road to redemption, 1934
Can you imagine how I feel to be treated as a little boy and not as a man?
And when I was a little boy, I was treated as a man
Growing up in the system: Jack Henry Abbott lends his life story to fiction,
1981
I will stand in front of you and bleed my heart and mind for you to just try
and grasp the realities, the effects and the damage of an abused
child/woman
A victims appeal: Emma Humphreys seeks justice, 1994
Copyright Acknowledgements
Prison Book Appendix
About the Editors
Edward Smyth is a writer and speaker in criminal justice. His first book is called Doing Time: A Spiritual Survival Guide. Edward served 18 weeks in prison in 2015.
James Drake is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and Founder at Of Lost Time, an innovative literary unit which uncovers the pasts hidden stories through the power of correspondence.
Jonathan Aitken is an ex-MP, ex-Minister and author. Ordained in 2018, he is a prison chaplain at Pentonville. He served 18 months in Belmarsh Prison.
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