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| Understanding
the Role of Prisoner Intellectuals*
Lingering inside a mismanaged, overcrowded prison system, and quietly floating atop a raging sea of unharnessed violence and wholesale despair, lives a shining group of inmates who manage to keep the fire of their sanity, dignity and intellectual dexterity glowing, despite living in corrupt institutions that nourish, glamorize and facilitate dark tendencies. The
existence of these unique individuals is largely unknown by society.
Their voices are muted and maliciously misrepresented by lawmakers
and status quo media outlets, whose political survival and television
ratings significantly depend upon making dreadful Forgotten in this hype are the scores of reformed and self-taught inmates. These brilliant prisoners possess extraordinary intellectual capabilities that are beneficial to society. Many demonstrate that they are willing and capable of participating in scholarly discourses. The fact that they exist should not surprise those familiar with the history of resistance. The social environment of prisons produces one of the world's most perplexing paradoxes: They house dangerous and chronic lawbreakers, yet they also produce great thinkers who are models of strength and integrity. Throughout history, prisoners have played an important role in advancing the parameters in the social sciences. Important papers and political treatises were written by authors held in dungeons or solitary confinement. Some of their work continues to inspire millions and influence the direction of academic discussion today. One of these convicts is Antonio Gramsci. Antonio
Gramsci is regarded by many as the most influential Marxist thinker
of the twentieth century. He was jailed in 1926 for his political
activities in Italy, during the authoritarian rule of Mussolini.
While in prison he wrote Prison Notebooks, a collection of Great thinkers and leaders often tower higher in death, than in life. Sayyid Qutb may be counted among them. Sayyid Qutb is considered the ideological grandfather of modern Islamic militancy. Throughout his life, he delivered fiery speeches and wrote scathing articles and essays condemning the oppression of Muslims in general, and the atrocities and human rights abuses perpetuated by the Egyptian government in particular. Accused of trying to assassinate Egyptian President Gemal Abdel Nasser, in October 1954, Qutb was thrown into prison and tortured. While in prison he continued his political activities, effectively converting Egyptian jails into universities of radical Islamic thought. Before his execution in 1966, Qutb managed to smuggle out the manuscript of his monumental book, Milestones, chapter by chapter. Senior intelligence officials begrudgingly confide that Quth's life and works continue to rally today's resistance activities in Iraq, and the broader Middle East. Most educated African-American prisoners boast that George Jackson had a profound impact on their decision to take corrective steps towards rehabilitation. Jackson was sent to prison for a petty robbery that netted less than $100. During his incarceration he spent most of his time reading and "chopping it up" (raising the socio-political awareness) of his fellow convicts, which earned him the ire of prison authorities. In his own words: "For the first four years I studied nothing but economics and military ideas. I met Black guerrillas, George "Big Jake" Lewis and James Carr, W.L. Nolen, Bill Christmas, Terry Gibson and many, many others. We attempted to transform the Black criminal mentality into a Black revolutionary mentality. As a result, each of us has been subjected to years of the most vicious violence by the state." Jackson and two other inmates were charged with the murder of a white prison guard, just a few days after another white prison guard shot and killed three Black inmates. While in solitary confinement, Jackson authored The Soledad Brothers and Blood in My Eye. Jackson's plight attracted international attention and his writings exposed the cruel anatomy of the Prison Industrial Complex. Blood in My Eye is regarded as the convict's version of Frantz Fanon's, Wretched of the Earth. Both books have been canonized and admitted into the pantheon of revolutionary literature. Jackson is still esteemed as the premier penitentiary revolutionary. He was assassinated by gun tower guards on August 9, 1971. Space constraints prevent enumeration of the scores of other prisoners who are worthy of mention, such as Rosa Luxemburg (The Mass Strike, The Political Party and the Trade Union), Eldridge Cleaver (Soul on Ice), Leon Trotsky, and numerous others. Prisons
are insulated from society's distractions, which enables time for
introspection and contemplation. This is one explanation as to why
prisons have a transformative power for certain inmates. During
isolation, some prisoners discover unusual abilities and untapped Future leaders and thinkers are projected to emerge from prisons. Consequently, counter-intelligence measures are used to forestall this possibility. In 1994, college grants were taken away from all U.S. prisons. This measure was intended to stunt the academic growth of prisoners and inhibit the development of critical thinking. Acquiring knowledge is an expensive endeavor. Intellectually inclined prisoners need the support of society. They need funds to procure educational material such as news magazines, scholarly journals and college textbooks. Prisoners do not have access to the internet. This restriction severely hampers their ability to do research and stay abreast of new findings and developments. In this tumultuous post-9-11 world -- a world with a shortage of capacity-backed solutions to our problems -- we need input from every segment of society, including prisoners. If we overlook the insights of knowledgeable prisoners, we may in fact be ignoring the next Malcom X. Dennis
Boatwright, #206715 *This article contains excerpts from a forthcoming essay, "What about the Brothas?: Re-examining the Role of Prison Intellectuals," which will be published in the Summer 2007 issue of the new quarter journal, The BottomLine. About
the author: Dennis Boatwright is a self-taught Detroit
native who has been in prison since 1989. He recently founded The
Center for Advanced Pan-African Studies, a public policy think-tank
that is on the inside, and draws contributions from the brightest
and most intellectual inmates in maximum security. The group is
preparing the first issue of its new upcoming quarterly, The BottomLine.
Boatwright is multi-lingual and is an avid learner. He is being
held at a maximum-security prison, where he is kept in his cell
for 23 hours per day. Please send Boatwright a pre-embossed, stamped,
envelope if you wish to comment on this essay or would like more
information about The BottomLine. He would also appreciate receiving
copies of current academic journals, in the areas of political economy,
international relations, history, sociology/anthropology and African-American
Studies. The
following link offers tips for writing to prisoners: |
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