A Prison Diary
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A Prison Diary is a series of three books of diaries written by Jeffrey Archer during his time in prisons following his convictions for perjury and perverting the course of justice.
Each volume is named after the parts of Dante's The Divine Comedy. The volumes become progressively longer due his staying being longer and longer at each prison he went to.
The diaries have been widely praised by many critics, being called the best work that he has ever done.
Contents |
[edit] Volume 1: 'Hell'
Published: 2002
This book includes Archer's introduction to the prison system, and possibly some of his lowest moments. He was to spend the first twenty-two days and fourteen hours in HMP Belmarsh, a double A-Category high-security prison in South London. Although Archer spent less than a month there, Belmarsh is described as a real hell-hole. Despite this, many of the inmates are extremely kind to him and regale him with anecdotes, which he duly records.
[edit] Volume 2: 'Purgatory'
Published: 2003
This book is much longer than the previous one, and charts Archer's time in HMP Wayland, a C-Category prison. The rules are more relaxed, but as the title suggests, boredom is the main enemy for all prisoners, not just Archer. He charts each day in varying levels of detail depending on whether anything of interest happens. His friends and family remain constantly faithful, and carry on his appeal case while he is incarcerated.
[edit] Volume 3: 'Heaven'
Published: 2004
This details his time in North Sea Camp near Boston, Lincolnshire a D-category open prison. More privileges, a more relaxed regime, and of course, more anecdotes from his time in prison. Archer spent almost a year in this prison, and some weeks once eligible working in the local theatre. A minor breach of conditions during a home visit resulted in Archer being sent to B-Category HMP Lincoln for 22 days - described in a section of the book subtitled "Back to Hell". An investigation reversed the decision and he finished his sentence inside D-category HMP Hollesley Bay without opportunity for outside work, summarised in an epilogue.
