A14 NEW YORK/REGION B1-8 Best-Selling Prison Author Is Found Dead in His Cell Jack Henry Abbott, left, a convicted killer and best-selling author who was paroled in 1981 with the support of the novelist Norman Mailer, only to kill a waiter six weeks later, was found dead in his prison cell in an apparent suicide, officials said.
The report's authors credit prison authorities with "a desire and openness to improvement," and called on the government to institute a range of reforms that would reduce overcrowding, end abusive punishments and improve conditions.
Because the investigators are not allowed to interfere with any daily practice in prison, the authors are obliged to resort to a pre-post design instead of conducting a randomized controlled trial.
Wei Jingsheng was a leader of the Chinese democracy movement who spent 15 years in prison for authoring "The Fifth Modernization," which he posted on the Democracy Wall in Beijing.
In the current issue, which focuses on prisons, the authors include a man serving a life sentence for murder and a grandmother who supervised the kitchen of a county jail.
After Biggs and Charlie Wilson escaped from prison, the author Graham Greene wrote to the Daily Telegraph saying: "Am I one of a minority in feeling admiration for the skill and courage behind the Great Train Robbery?
Mr. Kearse, 45, went from hustling crack cocaine as head of a multistate crew, to federal prison, to author and urban self-help guru who not only writes books about his experiences but also mentors children, crooks, prisoners and their families on the perils of the criminal life.
"The possibility that meditation might improve prosocial behaviours, and reduce prejudice and aggression, brings with it the prospect of applications in a variety of contexts, including schools with high rates of conflict and in prisons," the authors write in their paper.
In his recently released book "Texas Tough: The Rise of a Prison Empire", author Robert Perkinson analyzes the life and times of America's harshest, largest penal system and notes that Jim Crow has moved behind bars.
"One particular term originated from the nickname I received as a pledge, which was '4th Grade Rape Bait' due to my youthful looks and the connotation of what may happen to someone like me in prison," the author said.
