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Doing Time: 25 Years of Prison Writing
“Doing time.” For prison writers, it means more than serving a sentence; it means staying alive and sane, preserving dignity, reinventing oneself, and somehow retaining one’s humanity.
For the last quarter century the prestigious writers’ organization PEN has sponsored a contest for writers behind bars to help prisoners face these challenges. Bell Chevigny, a former prison teacher, has selected the best of these submissions from over the last 25 years to create Doing Time: 25 Years of Prison Writing—a vital work, demonstrating that prison writing is a vibrant part of American literature. This new edition will contain updated biographies of all contributors.
The 51 original prisoners contributing to this volume deliver surprising tales, lyrics, and dispatches from an alien world covering the life span of imprisonment, from terrifying initiations to poignant friendships, from confrontations with family to death row, and sometimes share extraordinary breakthroughs. With 1.8 million men and women—roughly the population of Houston—In American jails and prisons, we must listen to “this small country of throwaway people,” in Prejean’s words. Doing Time frees them from their sentence of silence. We owe it to ourselves to listen to their voices.
For the last quarter century the prestigious writers’ organization PEN has sponsored a contest for writers behind bars to help prisoners face these challenges. Bell Chevigny, a former prison teacher, has selected the best of these submissions from over the last 25 years to create Doing Time: 25 Years of Prison Writing—a vital work, demonstrating that prison writing is a vibrant part of American literature. This new edition will contain updated biographies of all contributors.
The 51 original prisoners contributing to this volume deliver surprising tales, lyrics, and dispatches from an alien world covering the life span of imprisonment, from terrifying initiations to poignant friendships, from confrontations with family to death row, and sometimes share extraordinary breakthroughs. With 1.8 million men and women—roughly the population of Houston—In American jails and prisons, we must listen to “this small country of throwaway people,” in Prejean’s words. Doing Time frees them from their sentence of silence. We owe it to ourselves to listen to their voices.
384 pages, Paperback
First published May 20, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 1, 2017
This is a remarkable collection of stories, poems, and real life experiences, written by the men and women incarcerated in the world's most populous penal system: United States prisons.
Each year, the PEN American Center welcomes submissions for prisoners: short stories, essays, poetry, and prose. Over 25 years of winning entries make up this book, which runs the gamut from coarse to majestic. The subject matter is, at turns, heartbreaking and haunting, infuriating and insightful.
The collection is broken into thematic sections, focusing on such topics as Race, Family, Getting Out, Prison Work, Routines, Prison Initiations, and Death Row. Each section is teed up with an introductory preface that frames up the topics and the subsequent writings. This made it easy to take the book in smaller bites, which is good because at times the stories became a bit overwhelming and I needed a bit of a break before reengaging.
This book will - I believe - give you a much stronger sense of what life inside the razor wire is like. I came to empathize with many of the men and women who shared their stories, be the writings fact or fiction. These stories humanize those often marginalized as inhuman. They put you inside the walls and allow you to feel the frustration, fear, rage, grace, hope, and hopelessness that accompany inmates each moment of every day.
This collection is a rough ride - no punches are pulled about how violent, dehumanizing, or profane prison life can be. But it's a rewarding read, with writing that relies on authenticity as a cornerstone. Whether terse or elegant, these stories and poems feel as if they come from the heart: hardened hearts, broken hearts, open hearts.
Each year, the PEN American Center welcomes submissions for prisoners: short stories, essays, poetry, and prose. Over 25 years of winning entries make up this book, which runs the gamut from coarse to majestic. The subject matter is, at turns, heartbreaking and haunting, infuriating and insightful.
The collection is broken into thematic sections, focusing on such topics as Race, Family, Getting Out, Prison Work, Routines, Prison Initiations, and Death Row. Each section is teed up with an introductory preface that frames up the topics and the subsequent writings. This made it easy to take the book in smaller bites, which is good because at times the stories became a bit overwhelming and I needed a bit of a break before reengaging.
This book will - I believe - give you a much stronger sense of what life inside the razor wire is like. I came to empathize with many of the men and women who shared their stories, be the writings fact or fiction. These stories humanize those often marginalized as inhuman. They put you inside the walls and allow you to feel the frustration, fear, rage, grace, hope, and hopelessness that accompany inmates each moment of every day.
This collection is a rough ride - no punches are pulled about how violent, dehumanizing, or profane prison life can be. But it's a rewarding read, with writing that relies on authenticity as a cornerstone. Whether terse or elegant, these stories and poems feel as if they come from the heart: hardened hearts, broken hearts, open hearts.
April 1, 2019
Another book chosen for Book Riot's challenge (book written in prison); this one demonstrates how such challenges widens one's reading horizons. I would have never picked up this book, and am really impressed by the high-quality writing, especially for an anthology.
December 12, 2019
Good to read these perspectives. Like most anthologies, some of the stories are much better than others.
May 11, 2020
The prisoners’ writing was interesting. All the editorial pieces - and there were many - are distracting & boring.
November 24, 2021
Some really good writing here but I’m not sure if audiobook is the best format. The preface to each section seemed unnecessary and distracting. Overall I really enjoyed this though.
December 11, 2024
A lot of very good writing here. So much talent and they managed to be in prison. A freebie from Audible.com. Narrated by several readers, all doing a good job.
January 31, 2021
Horribly edited, to the point where text is sometimes unreadable.
February 5, 2014
Wow, I was truly amazed by the stories in this collection. I work for a bookstore and have donated boxes and boxes of books to local jails and prisons. This book shows me what donations and programs to help educate prisoners can really do.
The stories show all aspects of being locked up and none of it is pretty. I feel like I have been in an AIDS ward where prisoners are slowly dying and mostly cared for by one inmate who works 20 hours a day to make sure they have empty pee bags and clean sheets. I have spent the last day with a man getting ready to enter the gas chamber. I have experienced the heartache of a mother being denied visits with her son because the warden is a power hungry jerk. I have seen the false arrest of a guard who happened to fall in love with an inmate. And the most disturbing and amazing of them all brought me into the life of a girl who watched her father die and almost died herself confront the boy who broke into their house.
I hope many, many people read this book and see for themselves the journey.
The stories show all aspects of being locked up and none of it is pretty. I feel like I have been in an AIDS ward where prisoners are slowly dying and mostly cared for by one inmate who works 20 hours a day to make sure they have empty pee bags and clean sheets. I have spent the last day with a man getting ready to enter the gas chamber. I have experienced the heartache of a mother being denied visits with her son because the warden is a power hungry jerk. I have seen the false arrest of a guard who happened to fall in love with an inmate. And the most disturbing and amazing of them all brought me into the life of a girl who watched her father die and almost died herself confront the boy who broke into their house.
I hope many, many people read this book and see for themselves the journey.
January 28, 2016
Thoroughly thought-provoking writing offering perspectives so unique and compelling that it is difficult to come out from one end of the book to the other seeing the same way. Time in prison gives each author a voice so steeped in humanity that even serious writers might come away looking like powder-puff fluff in comparison. I believe how we treat the lowest members of our society defines us and what a revelation it is to see how prisoners would define themselves through their writing. A highly recommended read.
December 14, 2009
Doing my final Liberal Studies Analysis Paper on the section "Getting Out"
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December 12, 2014810.8092 D6579 2011
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews