Memoir

These are the few possessions I had in Modelo prison. My sewing kit. The beautiful watch I bought with money I earned from forging antique drawings in the prison workshop. The pen I drew them with, incased in a 100 year-old olivewood chisel handle carved by my Zen cell-mate Mike Pearson. The pipe was made by my friend, Boris, in the punishment cell. He gave it to me as a reminder that if this could be achieved in prison, imagine what we could do with our freedom. The objects rest on my charge sheet with a photo taken a year before my arrest.

Drawings from William's prison journal. This was the perfect aide memoir for writing the book. Besides documenting the events consecutively, it recorded William’s attempts to move from naive caricature to observed representation with the help of artist inmates.