Jack Henry Abbott Biography

Jack Henry Abbott, Criminal

Attr: David Handschuh/AP

Occup.	Criminal
From	USA
Born	January 21, 1944 Oscoda, Michigan, USA
Died	February 10, 2002 Wende Correctional Facility, Alden, New York, USA
Aged	58 years

Early Life
Jack Henry Abbott was born upon January 21, 1944, in Oscoda, Michigan, United States. The product of an unsteady house, Abbott was the illegitimate youngster of an Irish American mom as well as a Chinese American papa. His parents were not wed, and his dad swiftly went away from his life. His mother, Florence, was a prostitute that frequently ignored Jack as well as his more youthful sibling. Because of this, they invested much of their childhood years in foster residences.

Abbott's life deviated for the worse when he found himself in trouble with the legislation at a young age. At 9, Jack was detained for theft, which would be the beginning of a life of criminal offense. His offenses escalated over the years, as well as he soon started devoting fierce criminal activities. At the age of 18, Abbott was detained as well as billed, along with a team of various other teens, for robbery and other offenses, landing him in adult jail for the very first time.

In and also Out of Prison
The majority of Abbott's life was spent behind bars. In 1963, while serving a sentence for imitation, he fatally stabbed the first of two fellow inmates. He was founded guilty of murder for this offense and was sentenced to additional jail time. In 1971, Abbott took part in the well known Attica Prison Riot, where prisoners rebelled against the bad living problems and also their ill-treatment by the jail team.

Throughout his time in jail, Abbott began checking out voraciously as well as taught himself to write. This eventually brought about a document with notable American author as well as dramatist, Norman Mailer. Mailer became captivated by Abbott's writing and motivated him to pen a book about his experiences in prison. This resulted in the magazine of Abbott's autobiographical work, "In the Belly of the Beast", in 1981.

Short Period of Freedom as well as Infamy
Mailer's influence assisted Abbott obtain parole in 1981. Right after his launch, Abbott became a literary celebrity, as "In the Belly of the Beast" gained prevalent attention for its raw as well as vivid representation of life inside American jails. Nevertheless, Abbott's popularity and also liberty were short-term. Six weeks after his launch, he fatally stabbed a young aspiring star called Richard Adan, that was working at his family's dining establishment in New York's East Village.

Abbott's murder of Adan stunned the country, as well as he was quickly apprehended and charged with murder. His trial amassed significant media attention, as the instance raised questions concerning the duty that influential numbers like Mailer had played in helping with Abbott's parole. Regardless of his fans advocating for kindness, Abbott was found guilty and also punished to 15 years to life behind bars.

Last Years and also Death
Throughout his time in jail, Abbott continued to face corrective problems as well as earned a track record as a problematic inmate. He was transferred between various prisons therefore. His fierce propensities continued, as well as he was involved in numerous run-ins with various other inmates.

On February 10, 2002, Jack Henry Abbott died in his prison cell at the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, New York. He was found awaited an obvious self-destruction, finishing a life marked by physical violence, imprisonment, and brief notoriety.

Jack Henry Abbott's life serves as a sign of things to come about the difficulties and risks faced by people who grow up in challenging scenarios with restricted opportunities for recovery. In spite of his intellectual capabilities and also short-term success as a writer, Abbott might not escape the cycle of criminal offense as well as physical violence that had actually specified his life considering that childhood.

Our collection contains 18 quotes who is written / told by Jack.

Related authors: Norman Mailer (Novelist), Lawrence Taylor (Athlete)

Jack Henry Abbott Famous Works:

1981 In the Belly of the Beast (Book)
1987 My Return (Book)

Source / external links:

18 Famous quotes by Jack Henry Abbott

"When I'm forced by circumstances to be in a crowd of prisoners, it's all I can do to refrain from attack"

"The other inmates stand in a long straight line, flanked by guards, and I am dragged past them. I do not respect them, because they will not run - will not try to escape"

"I've wanted somehow to convey to you the sensations - the atmospheric pressure, you might say - of what it is to be seriously a long-term prisoner in an American prison"

"To be in prison so long, it's difficult to remember exactly what you did to get there"

"As long as I am nothing but a ghost of the civil dead, I can do nothing"

"Imagine a thousand more such daily intrusions in your life, every hour and minute of every day, and you can grasp the source of this paranoia, this anger that could consume me at any moment if I lost control"

"I have been desperate to escape for so many years now, it is routine for me to try to escape"

"Nothing is over and done with. Nothing. Not even your malice"

"My eyes, my brain seek out escape routes wherever I am sent"

"There was never sufficient evidence presented at my trial to support a finding of intent to kill"

"That is how prison is tearing me up inside. It hurts every day. Every day takes me further from my life"

"Paranoia is an illness I contracted in institutions. It is not the reason for my sentences to reform school and prison. It is the effect, not the cause"

"One morning I woke up and was plunged into psychological shock. I had forgotten I was free"

"When they talk of ghosts of the dead who wander in the night with things still undone in life, they approximate my subjective experience of this life"

"The part of me which wanders through my mind and never sees or feels actual objects, but which lives in and moves through my passions and my emotions, experiences this world as a horrible nightmare"

"I find it painful and angering to look in a mirror"

"I escaped one time. In 1971 I was in the free world for six weeks"

"Because there is something helpless and weak and innocent - something like an infant - deep inside us all that really suffers in ways we would never permit an insect to suffer"