What sort of messages escape through the prison bars?
This illustrated collection of letters includes the correspondence of captives and political detainees across time. Throughout history, imprisonment has been a tool of punishment, protection and oppression. In the US alone, some 2.2 million people currently sit behind bars. Many stories end with incarceration; the detective solves the crime, the court delivers a verdict, and someone disappears into a cell. But their story doesn’t end there and, in many cases, it writes itself.
From Paul the Apostle writing in his underground dungeon in Rome, to the suffragettes describing the torture of force-feeding, prison letters reveal new chapters, often lost over time. Writers in this collection include artists, activists, politicians, doctors, and criminals. They write to family, lawyers, newspapers and co-conspirators, in whatever material is available – even blood. Whether it is a friendly hello or a final farewell, these missives reveal the hidden stories of incarceration and resistance.
Coming soon, 2024.
Sylvia Pankhurst to her mother from Holloway prison, 1913
The torture suffered by the suffragettes has been preserved in letters smuggled out of prison.
Al Capone to his son from Alcatraz, 1938
Before escaping, Al Capone seemed to be enjoying prison. He even had a rock band.