Prisons constitute one of the most controversial and contested sites in a democratic society. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the industrialized world, with over 2 million people in jails, prisons and detention centres; with over 3,000 on death row, it is also one of the few developed countries that continues to deploy the death penalty. International human rights organizations such as Amnesty International have also noted the scores of political prisoners in US detention. This anthology examines a class of intellectuals whose analyses of US society, politics, culture and social justice are rarely referenced in conventional political speech or academic discourse. Yet this body of outlawed public intellectuals offers some of the most incisive analyses of our society and shared humanity. Focusing on prisons as intellectual and political sites unauthorized by the state, this anthology of writings by imprisoned intellectuals in opposition to state policies that support racism, war, imperialism, corporate capitalism/globalization, addresses diverse social and political issues. These essays are by writer-activists incarcerated because of their political beliefs and acts (some released by President Bill Clinton on his last day of office, others working as educators and activists behind bars), or politicized while incarcerated for social crimes, offer some controversial and thought-provoking theories of contemporary social change and liberation movements. Here former and current US political prisoners and activists - writers from the civil rights/black power, women’s, gay/lesbian, American Indian, Puerto Rican independence and anti-war movements share varying progressive critiques and theories on radical democracy and revolutionary struggle. This rarely referenced resistance literature reflects the growing public interest in incarceration sites, intellectual and political dissent for social justice, and the possibilities of democratic transformations.
