Caryl Chessman the “Red Light Bandit” wrote Cell 2455 Death Row, Trial by Ordeal and The Face of Justice, maybe others. I haven’t got around to reading any of them yet so I have no opinion on their quality.
Any of Edward Bunker’s books – he had a bit part in Reservoir Dogs, but he was a career criminal, and wrote his first novel while he was in prison, and all told, I think he spent around 20 years behind bars.
His best, in my opinion, is Dog Eat Dog, about a robbery that goes bad (but don’t they all?).
His latest is Education of a Felon: A Memoir, which, obviously, is non-fiction.
Also Eddie Little, who wrote the excellent Another Day in Paradise, spent a lot of time in prison.
P.S. Googling for “Eddie Little,” I just found out he died two weeks ago of a heart attack. That’s a damned shame.
Ed Bunker is good, William Burroughs ‘Junky’ is a classic as is ‘Snowblind’ (I forget the author) which is an early forerunner of books about smuggling such as ‘Mr Nice’ by Howard Marks. On the other hand it depends what you consider a criminal author - One of my favoutrite writers, Stephen Fry, did a small amount of time for fraud as a youth but I wouldn’t consider him a criminal anymore, nevertheless ‘Moab is my Washpot’ is brilliant.
I wouldn’t call them great, but… Greg Brooks and Bob Powell were both comic book artists who killed their girlfriends while in drunken rages.
What was Iceberg Slim’s book called?
Lenny Bruce wrote the wonderful How to Talk Dirty and Influence People.
Wiseguy by Henry Hill.
Bandits and the Bible contains short pieces by convicted murders living in the late 19th century (like John Wesley Hardin). Most of the stories are autobiographical and involve the crimes that these men committed and their lives in prison. I flipped through it in the bookstore the other day – it’s pretty entertaining.
(Oops, the correct title is Bandits & Bibles: Convict Literature in Nineteenth-Century America.)
I personally loathe his writing, but Celine’s works are considered literature, and he was imprisoned as a Nazi collaborator.
Genet was in and out of prison for much of his life, and he won the Grand Prix des Arts et Lettres for his works.
The short story writer “O. Henry” (real name William S. Porter) started writing while in prison for embezzling from the bank where he was employed.
Ezra Pound was imprisoned after WW2 for Nazi sympathies, although moved to a mental asylum. The Marquis De Sade spent a lot of time in jail, and many people rate his writings (they are certainly “interesting”). Marco Polo wrote his classic account of his travels in Asia while in jail. Vergil, Cicero, Ovid and Seneca were all banished or exiled from Rome (largely for political reasons).
Was P.G. Wodehouse ever tried or convicted of treason after World War 2?
Wodehouse fled to the USA to avoid treason charges.
Cicero was exiled for murder, although the killings were done to prevent an anti-government conspiracy and the reason for the conviction was political.
Dante was also exiled on pain of death for supporting the wrong side in civil war.
Iceberg Slim (Robert Beck) wrote Pimp: The Story of My Life, The Naked Soul Of Iceberg Slim and at least five or six novels and collections of fiction stories.
Cleaver’s Soul On Ice is about more than just his prison experiences. You could call it his memoirs as well as a collection of essays on his beliefs and personal philosophy regarding race, politics, class, sex and sexual identity, even some literary criticism regarding the writings of James Baldwin.
I’ll add my vote for Ed Bunker. His delicate prose, contrasting with the brutal subject of prison life, is amazing.
Also, Cervantes spent a lot of time in captivity, both as a prisoner of war and as a criminal, before writing Don Quixote.
I came into this thread to see if anyone had mentioned Caryl Chessman, and it’s nice to see someone has. I read those books when I was a kid (I was a weird kid) and became a hard-core anti-Death Penalty…uh, person. Until I grew up, then I went back and forth on the issue.
I haven’t read them since, but I remember being fascinated, and very impressed with how he turned his life around. Jail was the best thing that ever happened to him. He was small-time petty thief, dull and ignorant. He began reading in jail and his intelligence was uncovered, buffed, then polished to a high gloss. To this day I don’t know if he was the Red Light Bandit, but I do know that he never should have been executed.
For those who don’t know, (I’m going by memory here), the Red Light Bandit was so called because he used a red flashing light to pull over couples in their cars. He would rob them, tie up the man, then have the woman go to his car, where he’d rexually assault her (not all cases were outright rape). When Chessman was arrested, mainly because he was driving the same make of car and bore a passing resemblence, he was charged with kidnapping. In California, the “Little Lindburgh” law was in effect, which said that if you move a person against their will, even if it’s only a few feet, you can be charged with kidnapping, a capital crime. There’s more to it, but that was the gist that affected Chessman.
Chessman was convicted and spent 12 years, I think, on Death Row before he was executed. In that time he wrote 4 books, and amassed a slew of supporters the world over, some very famous. Steve Allen was, I remember, a big supporter. There were those who didn’t necessarily oppose the death penalty, and who even thought he was guilty, but didn’t think he should be executed for a crime (or crimes) in which no one died. Plus, his trials were a comedy of errors. I don’t remember specifics, but as a kid I came away with a healthy distrust of the justice system, which has stayed with me ever since.
the marquis de sade 120 days of soddom…
Gravano’s book is called - Underboss not Hitman, it is a good read but very self serving.
Wiseguy by Henry Hill and Pillegi is very good as is the Autobiography of Malcom X. All of these books are as told to books and not really authored by the criminals.
I read Caryl Chessman’s Cell 2455 Death Row and did not think it was good. He was obviously guilty and while not a murderer definetly a despicable human being.
While obviously not the normal type of criminal those involved with Watergate wrote some good books. Will by Liddy and Born Again by Coulson are both very good.
Witness by Whitaker Chambers is one of the great books of the last century and while he was never prosecuted he admits to being a spy which is criminal.
As long as we’re here, there’s Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief by Bill Mason*. He spent a lot of time around the Cleveland area, and one of his methods was to go backstage at theatres and rob the dressing rooms of the stars.
In his book, he tells about how all the stars lied about the value of the stolen property when making their insurance claims (he says Phyllis Diller was about the only honest one).
*No, not the current Cuyahoga County prosecutor.
Walter Raleigh wrote history and poetry books in prison.
How I Might Have Done It If I’d Done It But I Didn’t by OJ
Also: I thought Papillon was now considered to be fiction.
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Shantaram by convicted armed robber and prison escapee Gregory David Roberts. Mostly based on his real- life experiences in Bombay after his escape.
Whoa. I read the title and clicked so I could suggest Anne Perry - which is the same suggestion I made eight years ago. Harumph.