Jack Henry Abbott (January 21, 1944 – February 10, 2002) was an American criminal and author. He was released from prison in 1981 after gaining praise for his writing and being lauded by a number of high-profile literary critics, including author Norman Mailer. Six weeks after his release, however, he fatally knifed a man during an altercation, was convicted of manslaughter and returned to prison, where he committed suicide in 2002.
He was born o...
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Jack Henry Abbott (January 21, 1944 – February 10, 2002) was an American criminal and author. He was released from prison in 1981 after gaining praise for his writing and being lauded by a number of high-profile literary critics, including author Norman Mailer. Six weeks after his release, however, he fatally knifed a man during an altercation, was convicted of manslaughter and returned to prison, where he committed suicide in 2002.
He was born on at Camp Skeel in Oscoda, Michigan, to an Irish-American soldier and a Chinese prostitute. According to his book, In the Belly of the Beast, he claimed to have been in and out of foster care from the moment of his birth until the age of nine, at which point he started "serving long stints in juvenile detention quarters." As a child, Abbott was in trouble with teachers and later with the law, and by the age of 16 was sent to a reform school.
The Australian film Ghosts... of the Civil Dead is based on his life.
In 1965, aged 21, Jack Abbott was...
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