ABSTRACT
The subject of this chapter is art and autonomy in the lives of prison inmates. The form of art examined is creative writing, with an emphasis on poetry; prison inmates studied include ordinary criminals confined for run-of-the-mill felonies and political prisoners who are confined because of their opposition to a political regime, often expressed in their writing. In a sense, the writings and beliefs of political prisoners are their crimes. For both groups of prisoners, writing emerges as a way to assert autonomy – to bend the bars of confinement and transcend the limits of their incarceration.
