12 February 2018
A couple of years ago, I published an op-ed from Attica prison in the New York Times. A young man wrote me afterward, and we became pen pals. One time, he wanted to send me a book. The problem was, he couldn't simply buy it at a book store and mail it. Nor could he order it for me online. Plus it was a new release with a hard cover, and that wasn't allowed either. Yet we found a way.
A prison directive allowed for five printed pages to arrive in each regular mail envelope. So my friend broke copyright laws and photocopied 300-plus pages, stuffing them into more than 30 envelopes and sending them my way. He figured the publisher Spiegel & Grau, and the author Bryan Stevenson, wouldn't mind.
