Doing Time in American Prisons

This is a study of novels by Chester Himes, Malcolm Braly, and others on the experience of doing time in American prisons. The authors are all convicts or ex-convicts who were not professional writers before their incarceration. In fact, Massey notes, the confinement seems to have motivated them to put their experiences into words. Most of the prisoners were incarcerated for armed robbery, one of the most common felonies in the United States. The relationship between that crime and the American Dream has social and political implications, but these writers are neither prisoners of conscience nor prisoners of war.

How these writers describe the harsh prison environment reveals patterns and themes common to most prison novels. Although an atmosphere of violence abounds, a sense of camaraderie and an extended home feeling are equally strong characteristics of the prison novels. The writers make it clear that within prisons, inmates change, for better or worse, and sometimes this change results in positive growth.