The writing's on the cell wall for US jailbird novelist
North Carolina authorities confiscate manuscript of prisoner's fifth novel to stop him 'profiting' behind bars
By Guy Adams in Los Angeles
Sunday, 13 July 2008
It's just as well that Oscar Wilde and John Bunyan, to name but two of literature's greatest jailbirds, weren't sentenced to serve time in the overcrowded state prisons of North Carolina.
Victor Martin, a novelist and career criminal whose four published books were written in his cell in Elizabeth City, is at the centre of a civil liberties dispute, after authorities confiscated the manuscript of his fifth book and attempted to ban him from writing. They allege that the novels break rules banning inmates from conducting business behind bars. Lawyers for Martin, who is nine years into a 23-year sentence for a string of robberies, say the policy violates his right to free speech.
So, they would much rather he stagnated in prison and then go out and re-offend?
And, is the writing on the wall for this prisoner writing novels in an English prison?
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
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