Prison Life Writing

Prison Life Writing is the first full-length study of one of the most controversial genres in American literature. By exploring the complicated relationship between life writing and institutional power, this book reveals the overlooked aesthetic innovations of incarcerated people and the surprising literary roots of the U.S. prison system.

Simon Rolston observes that the autobiographical work of incarcerated people is based on a conversion narrative, a story arc that underpins the concept of prison rehabilitation and that sometimes serves the interests of the prison system, rather than those on the inside. Yet many imprisoned people rework the conversion narrative the way they repurpose other objects in prison. Like a radio motor retooled into a tattoo gun, the conversion narrative has been redefined by some authors for subversive purposes, including questioning the ostensible emancipatory role of prison writing, critiquing white supremacy, and broadly reimagining autobiographical discourse.

An interdisciplinary work that brings life writing scholarship into conversation with prison studies and law and literature studies, Prison Life Writing theorizes how life writing works in prison, explains literature's complicated entanglements with institutional power, and demonstrates the political and aesthetic innovations of one of America's most fascinating literary genres. Prison Life Writing is the first full-length study of one of the most controversial genres in American literature. By exploring the complicated relationship between life writing and institutional power, this book reveals the overlooked aesthetic innovations of incarcerated people and the surprising literary roots of the U.S. prison system. "Prison Life Writing is a valuable study that continues the vital work of scholars in many disciplines to interrogate the practice of incarceration while also expanding our understanding of life writing." – D. Quentin Miller, biography vol. 45, no. 1, 2022
• Of interest to general readers in social justic issues, especially around race and criminal justice (topical). • Prison-related television programs like Prison Break, Orange is the New Black, Lockup, Prisoners' Wives, Bad Girls, and Rectify, as well as high-profile documentaries like Ava Duvernay's 13th, suggests that the prison continues to play an increasingly central role in North American popular imagination.

• Book is about prison literatures but also about race and gender and sexuality and the prison system

• The author became interested in prison life when incarcerated for four days in Santa Barbara after a scuffle with police. He learned that prisoners pass the time by telling stories.

• Discusses how African American prison life writing uses unique literary strategies (storytelling, crafting lies) to resist the US prison system, crucial for survival, building on traditional slave narratives and oration.

• Suggests that prison education systems are potentially problematic as they often mimic the rhetoric of the prison system. Author advocates for community writing programs after prison for more meaningful recovery from a racist prison complex.

• The author argues that the US prison system has literary roots since it is based on a conversion narrative. This changes how we think about the relationship between literature and institutional power. Not necessarily an act of resistance

• Although mostly about men's writing, a chapter contrasts conversion efforts with respect to male prisoners with those of women. Looks at books by Assata Shakur and Susan Rosenberg explore relationship between sexuality, power, and resistance. Table of Contents


INTRODUCTION. Autobiography and the Problem with Resistance: The Conversion Narrative in Prison Discourse and U.S. Prison Life Writing


1. Conversion and the Story of the U.S. Prison


2. The Treatment Era: African American Prison Life Writing and the Prison Conversion Narra