Persons and Things “In” (Pg. 169-178, Bandits and Bibles)

Just about every prison inmate is a “lost voice,” their stories only published in this obscure compilation (and many not even receiving this small recognition). Certainly, almost none are taught in normal classes of any time period. But the stories in this narrative are even more “lost” than most, because they deal with “lifers,” that is, inmates who have received a life sentence. These people almost never wrote down their personal experience, indeed many of them probably didn’t even know how to write. They simply disappeared into the maw of prison, becoming slowly gaunter, weaker, sicker and more broken down until they finally completed their sentence by dying.