American prison literature is literature written by Americans who are incarcerated. It is a distinct literary phenomenon that is increasingly studied as such by academics.
In the words of Arnold Erickson:
Prison has been a fertile setting for artists, musicians, and writers alike. Prisoners have produced hundreds of works that have encompassed a wide range of literature. [...] Books describing the prison experience, including the Autobiography of Malcolm X, inspired an audience far outside the prison walls. The importance of these works has been recognized in this country's highest courts. See Simon & Schuster, Inc. v. Crime Victims Board, 502 U.S. 105, 121-122 (1991)(citing works by prisoners).
Overview
The emergence of prison writing relied on convicts with the necessary writing skills to tell their stories from the inside. Early writings came from prisoners who had already begun to publish before being arrested. Among these early-20th-century writers was Jack London, who spent a month in 1894 in New York State's Erie County Penitentiary. This transformative experience informed much of his writing.
Early 20th century
Prison writing has often been seen as an act of political resistance. In the first two decades of the 20th century, the prisoners who were published were primarily social activists. Socialist writer Kate Richards O'Hare, spent a year in prison (1919–1920), causing her to dedicate her life to exposing the horrors of prison conditions and the economic structure by which they were supported. Anarchist activists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman also wrote while imprisoned, deepening their philosophical convictions and influencing people worldwide.
One of the most widely read early accounts of prison life in the 20th century was My Life in Prison (1912), by Donald Lowrie. The book inspired Thomas Mott Osborne, who later became warden at Sing Sing, to dedicate his career to prison reform. In 1924, after World War I, H.L. Mencken founded the American Mercury magazine and regularly published convict authors.
At the onset of the Great Depression, authorities began to perceive prison writing as a threat to American society. Manuscripts were potentially profitable subversive tools, and therefore all writing was suppressed.
In 1932, Robert E. Burns published his memoir I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang, which was subsequently made into the movie I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang. As a prison escapee, he wrote to expose the realities of prison slavery. During this time, the entire population felt the effects of poverty, crime, and hardship, making more people receptive to prison narratives.
Chester Himes began writing after going to prison for armed robbery. He reported: "When I could see the end of my time inside I bought myself a typewriter and taught myself to touch type. I'd been reading stories by Dashiell Hammett in Black Mask and I thought I could do them just as well. When my stories finally appeared, the other convicts thought exactly the same thing. There was nothing to it. All you had to do was tell it like it is."
Another writer to emerge during the 1930s was Nelson Algren, whose short story "El Presidente de Mejico" explored his experience in a Texas jail.
Post-WWII
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published in 1965, was the first full-length memoir of an African-American convict. Co-written by Alex Haley, the book was published the same year that X was assassinated. Prisoners and ex-prisoners began using the printed word to participate in revolutionary activities. Among those influenced by Malcolm X were Eldridge Cleaver, Iceberg Slim, Piri Thomas, and Jack Henry Abbott.
The literary renaissance of prison writing coincided with the social and political unrest of the 1960s and 1970s. There was tremendous support for incarcerated writers since they represented an important front of the culture war. Inner city riots and prison riots exemplified the volatile emotional state of the entire population. The 1971 escape attempt by a San Quentin inmate and author, George Jackson (Soledad Brother), ended in bloodshed. Another activist author, Angela Davis, was implicated in the event because a gun that was used was registered in her name. Jackson's shooting lead to a mass hunger strike at New York's Attica Prison. The strike eventually lead to a prisoner uprising and a subsequent police assault leaving 128 wounded and 39 dead, 10 of the hostages.