In The Belly Of The Beast

In the Belly of the Beast: Letters from Prison is a work of nonfiction by Jack Henry Abbott and Norman Mailer, who introduces the book. First published in 1981 and again in 1991 by Vintage, this book is a collection of correspondences between Abbott, a prison inmate who spent much of his life behind bars, and Mailer, an American journalist and literary critic. In the Belly of the Beast is recognized as an exceptional work in the canon of prison literature. The book’s acclaim helped Abbott achieve an early release, although he then committed suicide in 2002 upon returning to prison for murder.

The book doesn’t follow a set chronology and is not told in a linear narrative style. Mailer introduces the book, which is then set out in twelve chapters. These chapters tend to overlap in subject matter and content, and they are composed primarily from extracts of Abbott’s letters to Mailer while incarcerated.

This is a story of life inside a maximum-security prison, which Abbott calls the “Big House,” and the realities for its inmates. The theme which connects these letters together is how the U.S. prison system breaks its prisoners spiritually and emotionally so that they become no better than caged wild animals. Abbott writes that “the only time they appear human is when you have a knife at their throats. The instant you remove it, they fall back into animality. Obscenity.” He comments on how impossible it is for anyone to become reformed under such a system and how destructive it is.



It’s this hatred of the U.S. judiciary system which sparks Abbott’s letter-writing. Considered a career criminal, Abbott is incarcerated for crimes such as armed robbery, forgery, and later, murder. However, Abbott justifies his crimes as targeting a morally corrupt capitalist society which leaves many behind to flounder. He makes no connection between his own personal agenda and these crimes, and he doesn’t seem prepared to take moral responsibility for them. Everything gets blamed on the system he’s struggling against.

It’s this lack of responsibility which lets him justify the violent crimes he commits while incarcerated. “Everyone in prison has an ideal of violence, murder. Beneath all relationships between prisoners is the ever-present fact of murder. It ultimately defines our relationship among ourselves.” He believes he doesn’t have any option but to stand up against the constant intrusions into his daily life and spirit. His crimes inside range from assault to fatally stabbing another inmate, which gives him relief from the constant anger and paranoia. He feels men can’t thrive, grow, or flourish in such confinement, but his constant troublemaking ironically continues to lengthen his sentence.

However, his insights do reveal clear problems with the justice system. Abbott serves time in solitary confinement, or “the hole,” on and off for years. In this place, there’s barely enough room to walk, and he mutters to himself simply to hear sounds. This is a ripe breeding ground for paranoia, negative thinking, and emotional instability.



In Abbott’s mind, the prison guards as well as every employee of the prison system go out their way to make life miserable for inmates. They are tyrannical and abusive because they’ll never be made accountable for their actions. They allow beatings and shootings for minor infractions and don’t do anything to stop the rape and assaulting of inmates.

There’s a common code which brings the inmates together, and that’s moral strength. The prison system aims to break this strength so that convicts are defeated and turned into shells. As each prisoner tries to stay alive during their incarceration, they lose that strength and a cycle keeps repeating itself. This in turn gives prisoners another shared belief—hate the justice system and all its employees, and then do everything possible to rebel against it.

For example, Abbott, just like other inmates, will join in fights between prisoners and guards because they are like a brotherhood. They try to find a balance between looking out for each other and staying alive, and this isn’t an easy balance to find. It’s made even more difficult by the actions of the prison guards. Abbott sees this as the government turning grown men into children with stunted growth and emotional problems. These emotional problems are made worse by acts of rape committed by more powerful inmates to assert their dominance over “weaker” ones.



Abbott doesn’t share his thoughts with anyone for a long time. When he learns that someone is writing a book on prison life, Abbott decides to make his move. Mailer receives a letter from Abbott who claims his true-life experiences will make for interesting reading. He suggests he can help Mailer with a book on prison violence and conflicts by offering personal insight and stories. Mailer is intrigued by the offer, and he asks Abbott for some letters. Abbott sends him a plethora of letters and diary entries which are visceral and poetic enough for Mailer to want to publish. Some of the letters are initially published in the New York Review of Books, and Mailer pushes for a full-length publication of Abbott’s writings.

When the book is compiled and becomes an international bestseller, Mailer petitions for Abbott’s early release on cultural grounds. He acknowledges that Abbott still poses some risk to society but maintains that there’s merit in his release. However, it’s not long before Abbott fatally stabs a waiter and is sent back to jail. The waiter’s wife now receives the royalties from the book sales.