For almost all of us the idea of being locked away in prison is a dreadful thought to consider. To be in that position, to get put away, for whatever reasons, for whatever pain or injury that was caused, whatever law was broken, the probability of years in a small, cramped space holds no appeal to anyone of reason and is almost always an absolute deterrent.

Whilst some of the characters in these stories deserve prison, others are the victims of a mis-carriage. Our authors including Victor Hugo, Franz Kafka, William Mudford and Vincente Blasco Ibanez explore life inside, and how many of the flawed characters of their stories cope with the undoubted stresses and deprivations that their lives now cause them. It is a harsh world in microcosm.

1 - Prison Life - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction

2 - In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka

3 - The Peasant Marey by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

4 - Claude Gueux by Victor Hugo

5 - The Story of B 24 by Arthur Conan Doyle

6 - Parker Adderson, Philosopher by Ambrose Bierce

7 - The Iron Shroud by William Mudford

8 - The Windfall by Vicente Blasco Ibanez

9 - The Secret of the Scaffold by Auguste Villiers de I'Ísle-Adam