{"product_id":"pen-pal-prison-letters-from-a-free-spirit-on-slow-death-row-9781682193044","title":"Pen Pal: Prison Letters from a Free Spirit on Slow Death Row","description":"\u003cp\u003eTiyo Attallah Salah-El died in 2018 on \"Slow Death Row\" while serving a life sentence in a Pennsylvania prison. He was a man with a dizzying array of talents and vocations: author, scholar, teacher, musician, and activist: he was the founder of the Coalition for the Abolition of Prisons. He was also, as is apparent from the letters written over a decade and half to his friend Paul Alan Smith that make up this book, an extraordinarily eloquent correspondent.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTiyo's missives present a vivid picture of the tribulations faced by those incarcerated, especially the nearly 60% who are non-white: habitual racism, arbitrary lockdowns, brutal beatings and hospitalizations, stifling heat and bitter cold. Here too are descriptions of Tiyo's individual struggles with cancer, aging, and the sirens of personal demons.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTiyo's refusal to succumb to such hardships is evident in dispatches that are generous, philosophical and often laugh-out-loud funny. Through them we learn of his many friendships, including those with the historian Howard Zinn, a range of activist\/advocate supporters on the outside, and two fellow people in prison who were leaders of the Black liberation group MOVE.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAt a time when the appalling racial bias of America's police and criminal justice system is under the spotlight as never before, \u003cem\u003ePen Pal\u003c\/em\u003e is both a vital intervention and moving portrait of someone whose physical confinement could never extinguish an extraordinary free spirit.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e OR Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/15\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781682193044\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.74lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.52d","brand":"Tiyo Attallah Salah-El","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41261786923189,"sku":"9781682193044","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_79d26d9b-8b89-4506-ab51-261c4ddf6d3d.jpg?v=1634652634","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/pen-pal-prison-letters-from-a-free-spirit-on-slow-death-row-9781682193044","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}