Letters for the Ages Behind Bars: A Personal History of Incarceration

Letters for the Ages Behind Bars is a history of imprisonment told through the letters of people incarcerated over many centuries, for crimes committed or sometimes even for no reason at all. It is a story that runs from St Paul right up to the present day.

The act of depriving someone of their liberty is one of humankind’s most enduring responses to ’crime’ through history. What society has sought to achieve over the years by doing so has shifted across the centuries and there is now a variety of purposes: to express disapproval; for the purpose of straight-up punishment through the removal of freedom; to protect the general public; to rehabilitate, perhaps even to forget about those with whom we simply cannot cope.

The letters assembled here come from all parts of the world, and from time immemorial: Thomas Cromwell, Mary Queen of Scots, Eamon De Valera, Al Capone, Martin Luther King and many more.

These letters not only reveal what it is like to be behind bars, but raise issues that are still of pressing interest for us today - such as the death penalty, miscarriages of justice, redemption and social change. They shed light on a system which is primarily one of contradictions - there are letters which inspire, horrify, letters which awe and condemn - even letters which make you laugh or cry.

Edward Smyth is a writer and speaker in the field of criminal justice. He has a Master’s Degree in Criminology from Oxford University. He spent 18 weeks in prison and is now completing a PhD on prison chaplaincy. He is a patron of Prisoners’ Penfriends, a Trustee of Sing Inside and Ambassador for the Welcome Directory. He has published a book with Jonathan Aitken called Doing Time: A Spiritual Survival Guide.

James Drake is a serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, and Founder at Of Lost Time, an innovative literary unit which uncovers the hidden stories of the past through the power of personal correspondence. When James is not trawling through historical letters, he is seeking to improve the health and welfare of people impacted by head injuries through his Drake Foundation, and supporting the next generation of exceptional musicians through his Drake Calleja Trust.

Jonathan Aitken has published many successful books with Bloomsbury Continuum including two that achieved six-figure serial deals. He served 18 months in Belmarsh Prison for committing perjury in court. An ex-MP, an ex-Minister, he is now well-known as an author, broadcaster and journalist. Ordained in 2018 as an Anglican priest, he is now a prison chaplain at Pentonville in London.