Description
The sun is shining through the bars of my window on what must be a glorious summer day. I’ve been incarcerated in a cell five paces by three for twelve and a half hours, and will not be let out again until midday; eighteen and a half hours of solitary confinement. There is a child of seventeen in the cell below me who has been charged with shoplifting – his first offence, not even convicted – and he is being locked up for eighteen and a half hours, unable to speak to anyone. This is Great Britain in the twenty-first century, not Turkey, not Nigeria, not Kosovo, but Britain. On Thursday 19 July 2001, after a perjury trial lasting seven weeks, Jeffrey Archer was sentenced to four years in jail. 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, which houses some of Britain’s most violent criminals. Hell, the first volume in Archer’s The Prison Diaries, is the author’s daily record of the time he spent there.
Sharon Bosco (Verified Purchase)
I am a great Jeffrey Archer fan and although I prefer his other books, this account of his life in prison was very interesting. It didn’t keep my attention like his other books when I don’t want to put them down, I was able to put this down for a day or two at a time.
Harsh Wardhan (Verified Purchase)
Although it’s nearly 20 years since his conviction and sentence the book is timeless and has not aged. I think he describes Belmarsh well and some of the stories recounted still ring true
Subhajit Mandal (Verified Purchase)
Brilliantly written book. I found it absolutely fascinating. I knew so little about what actually goes on inside prisons and was amazed and very shocked at some of the Things that were revealed. Some of these things were fascinating and somewhat horrifying.
Nidhi Singh (Verified Purchase)
I would certainly recommend this book as an eye opener to all . It undoubtedly captures your attention and at times reaches into the deepest parts of your soul.
Ajay Thandani (Verified Purchase)
Unlike other books this is actually based on facts. Jeffrey Archer writes his own experience of being in prison.