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June 29, 2003
REVIEW: Life behind bars
Lord Jeffrey Archer is as famous for reinventing himself in times of trouble, as he is for his successful careers as politician, writer and businessman. When he was recently convicted for perjury and given a four-year prison term, many thought he had run out of the last of his famous nine lives. These cynics were premature in their dismissal of the consummate survivor.
Since Archer’s sentencing on Thursday, July 19, 2001, he has written profusely and prolifically. While completing the best-selling fictional epic Sons of Fortune, simultaneously he kept controversial “diaries” from his first day behind the bars. These first-person daily accounts have recently been published as A Prison Diary, under his prisoner registration number FF 8282 (Archer’s name is not to be found on the cover).
Ironically, this book has created further problems for the writer, possibly contravening the rules that state a convicted prisoner cannot make money from his crime.
Ever the gentleman, Archer writes in a footnote, “I will only use foul language when it’s reported in speech, which for most inmates is every sentence.” His mannerly attitude is carried through in every aspect of A Prison Diary. This is not Mike Tyson’s prison account, but a “civilized”, gentleman’s gentlemanly recount of a coarse incarceration.
Within six hours of his sentencing, the author was on suicide watch in the medical wing of HMP Belmarsh, a double A-Category top-security prison in South London, along with some of Britain’s most violent criminals. “Most first-time offenders spend their first night in the medical centre,” he discovers, “because it is during your first twenty-four hours in prison that you are most likely to try and commit suicide.” By 6.00 am the next morning, the writer had resolved to write a daily diary of everything he experienced while incarcerated, because “I have a feeling that being allowed to write in this hellhole may turn out to be the one salvation that will keep me sane.”
Archer’s turn of phrase makes even the dry, pedantic life of a prisoner somewhat fascinating. Whether he’s simply doing routine prison exercises, brushing his teeth or shaving, the writer manages to sustain the reader’s interest. “I am just about to shave,” he shares, “a process I now take considerable time over, not just because I have time, but also because I don’t want to be cut to ribbons by my prison razor.” Even his rationing of supplies is revealing. “I try to convince myself that Del Boy is the man, and he will deliver — in the nick of time — because there’s only two inches left in the bottle,” he writes, before adding bleakly, “Have you ever had to measure how much water is left in a bottle?”
As an account of his first three weeks imprisonment, the writing is very matter of fact and to the point. Although he strongly denounces the British penal system, what is far more engrossing is his recount of the tales of his fellow inmates. His profound shock when referring to a 17-year-old accused of shoplifting being locked up together with murderers should make all of us think and reflect.
A Prison Diary is a fascinating, insightful, in depth look into the British penal system, but it is also a revelation on Archer the man. While his other short stories and novels have been fictional, this true to life account depicts a man who is both unrepentant and wallowing in the injustices of the system. Although one cannot help but feel sympathy for the humiliation of the author despite his misconduct, it is disappointing that there is no sense of remorse or shame for his crime.
Instead, A Prison Diary is often used as a means for Archer to air his many grievances, the majority of which are personal. That is why this autobiographical account lacks the emotional impact of a fictional tale like Stephen King’s exceptional Shawshank Redemption. Nonetheless, the book is very readable, and one is immediately struck by the mindlessness of daily life in Belmarsh. Archer’s daily record is a rare look at a regime foreign to most of us, all the more poignant because the characters are real. It is hard to believe this is modern day Great Britain.
A Prison Diary is aptly and cheekily dedicated to “foul-weather friends.”
Even when the celebrated author is down and out (as in his case, he often seems to be), his wit and mind are as razor sharp as ever. Just as the phoenix rises from the ashes, a good politician can’t be kept down.
A Prison Diary
By FF8282 (aka Lord Jeffrey Archer)
Pan. Available at Liberty Books (Pvt) Ltd, 3 Rafiq Plaza, M.R. Kayani Road, Saddar, Karachi
Tel: 021-5683026
Email:
libooks@cyber.net.pk
Website: www.libertybooks.com
ISBN 0-330-41863-7
259pp. Rs295
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