In The Belly Of The Beast

In the Belly of the Beast is a ravishing collection of letters to an author from a man who takes life head on, but with a different approach. Norman Mailer, an author, was in the middle of writing a novel entitled The Executioner's Song, which is a story about a murderer named Gary Gilmore. While this novel was in the works, Mailer received a letter from one Jack Henry Abbott, a convict having been in jail most of his life. Abbott's letter was solely criticism that accused Mailer of not knowing what "real life in prison" is like, but that Abbott would do everything in his power to clarify the aspects of what violence and everyday life is like in prison.

Abbott's first letter, and every one thereafter, impressed Mailer remarkably. Abbott began to talk about his childhood, and how his prison rampage began. He begins with the alarming fact that he was in and out of foster homes almost from the time of his birth. He never even finished the sixth grade. At the age of nine, he was already being placed in juvenile detention centers. The downhill trend continued for Abbott as he was sent to the Utah State Industrial School for Boys at the young age of twelve. He was only released from this institution when he reached adulthood at the age of eighteen. So already, before he became an adult, he was subject to violence, deviant behavior, and prison-like environments. He only remained out of trouble for about five or six months. He was then, still at the age of eighteen, sent to the Utah State Penitentiary for issuing a check without sufficient funds. He was given an indeterminate sentence of up to five years. This is exactly where, though he does not know it, Abbott is being subject to the labeling theory, namely the notion of "once a criminal, always a criminal." I have worked loss prevention at The Kroger Co. and have caught patrons writing bad checks at least once a week. Some are caught and others are not. However, if they are caught, they certainly are not subject to any jail time. But in Abbott's case, the sentencing decision was based upon his history of deviant behavior, and since the age of nine, being looked upon with the label of "criminal." Lemert's views on deviance, specifically secondary deviance, also come into play when Abbott, having served three years of his sentence, is upset that he is still in prison and decides to kill one inmate and wound another in a fight. It represents deviant behavior caused by the label that was given to him. Maybe this was not premeditated, but he was certainly able to make a rational decision, something he did not do here. In this situation, he was not sent to his death because the jury determined the murder was not premeditated, so Abbott received another indeterminate sentence of up to twenty years. Going further into his deviant rampage under the assumption that only he was to serve the maximum sentence for his crime, Abbott proceeded to escape from prison. During this time, he robbed a bank, and was then recaptured six weeks later. At age thirty-seven, Abbott had been free from prison a total of nine and a half months since age twelve.

Abbott is his own man in prison. He does not seek out any friends, though he does have some allies because his belief is that the inmates should stick together in order to survive the torture and undeserved injustice and unfair treatment by the prison guards. Abbott, throughout the entire story, relays his utter hate and cold-blooded bitterness and resentment toward the prison guards. He states that the injustice and unfair treatment--meaning unprovoked attacks, beatings, and even murders in some cases--are the only cause of insanity behind bars. On many different occasions, Abbott tells his stories of how he was treated unfairly. He was thrown into a "black-out" cell (one can see nothing, it is pitch-black), starved almost to the point of death while in a room full of "piss and shit," attacked and beaten on countless occasions to the point of where he would have to masturbate in order to relieve himself of the tension and violence suffered during the attacks. He was tied down to a bed with chains, he was drugged with so many different substances that he could not ejaculate properly, he was tortured with electro-shock therapy, and, for the purpose of emotional breakdown, was placed in the old cell where they used to gas people in order to put them to death. He makes the comparison that even though among themselves, guards and prisoners in the same way are human, the relationship that exists between the two classes is not only inhuman, it is animal-like. Of course Abbott takes the side of the prisoners, saying that they are closer to humanity than the guard. Who could blame him having going through such trials and torturous treatments?

Abbott did have one-sided and rather absurd opinions and views toward life in the United States, the government, the economy, and in some cases, society and race. This is namely because he was socially, and perhaps mentally, lost. He had nobody or nothing to turn to, so he turned to someone and something that saw and held the same views and opinions as he. Someone and something that leveled with the punished, the oppressed, the suffering, and not only the convicts, but also the victims of the lower class of society: the poor, the lazy, and the homeless. The answer for Abbott was Karl Marx (and "associates") and Communism (Marxism, Leninism). These views enabled Abbott to look for more out of society, and also for society to give him more. He reacted to Communism in this way because it preaches equality for everyone, no matter the wealth, worth, reputation, or social standing. Of course he would relate to this kind of lifestyle because it benefited him, the lower class, the socially depraved, the burdens of society, and their lack of moral values. Communism and its proponents provided Abbott a sense of hope, something he could not find in the open, but structured, American society that we have today.

Jack Abbott effectively started life at the bottom and was unable to sufficiently adjust for society's acceptance, although admittedly, he never really had a chance. He has not given up, though. He seeks sociological compensation after release from prison (if released) after being on the bottom

...