RAVING ARIZONA
A Thousand Books
A small cafe in the heart of London’s Soho. Shaun pulls out a sheet of white paper from a bulky briefcase stuffed to the brim with documents and begins to draw a plan. This will be his next book, a departure from his previous work. On the page, he creates a structure of connections, the elements of which are already or will be chapters. At one point, I feel like pinching my nose, doing anything to bring myself back to earth. The feeling grows that we are drifting into one of the fashionable conspiracy theories about global financial connections. Shaun, with the precision he must have honed during his time as a million-dollar stockbroker in the United States, shows us how war is financed. Minute by minute, I feel more and more uneasy, suspended in
some kind of terrifying void. The pumping of financial resources, using derivatives among other things – instruments derived from airlines, through the arms industry, all the way to Afghanistan and other flashpoints. A web of connections is created that goes back to the interwar period. In our discussion, we refer to the situation of Poland, historically located between two worlds. My interlocutor, rooted in Western culture, asks if I believe in some wisdom of my Eastern neighbors that will prevent the ability to press the last, red button in the future. Silence creeps in. In an hour and a half of discussion, one cannot afford to simplify.
Rebuilding Trust in England
In England, Shaun successfully rebuilds trust. The maximum sentence of two hundred years in prison is commuted to six and a half years under a plea agreement with the prosecutor, which he serves in Maricopa County Jail in Arizona. The prison library is equipped with such attractions as American cockroaches, deliberately bred by the staff, crawling into all body orifices. This turns out to be enough time to devour about a thousand books, from the classics of ancient philosophy to the contemporary novel. A time to meet the characters of Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn, with the ethics of Kant and historians, not to mention theorists. A time of great determination, of reflecting on his own actions, of searching for a way of existence for the former king
of Ecstasy, who had nearly a hundred dealers under him supplying MDMA to the techno scene ravers of the 1990s. Persona non grata in the United States, in prison he fought for the right to basic human dignity for prisoners, including against the controversial sheriff Joe Arpaio. It was also during this time that the famous blog Jon’s Jail Journal was created – http://www.jonsjailjournal.blogspot.co.uk – originally an anonymous leak to the outside world.
Author and Activist
Shaun Attwood is a gifted speaker and anti-drug activist. After returning to England, he became a bestselling author, writing Hard Time – the first part of a trilogy with Party Time and Prison Time – and the motivational guide Lessons From a Drug Lord. In these books, he reveals the details of his journey. He also collaborates with the magazine Not Shut Up, edited by Marek Kazmierski, which focuses on the literary and artistic work of prisoners in the UK.
The structure of financial ties is drawn out. Already on two pages. Shaun carefully hides them in his thick briefcase, gently suggesting that I shouldn’t get my hands on them. We go to a lecture from the Interesting Conversations series at St. James’s
Church near Piccadilly Circus. Getting up from the table, he mentions that he was a weak agnostic in prison. He believed in the existence of God in about one percent, but now it’s different…
photos and text: Jackie Branc / London, Soho Square 2014
Shaun’s story in the National Geographic series Locked Up Abroad RAVING ARIZONA (US only)
Oxford Union | This House Would Legalise Drugs for Personal Use – 5/8
LADbible TV | The Unbelievable Story Of An Ecstasy Kingpin | UNILAD Original Documentary
TEDx speech | What facing 200 prison years taught me about happiness
Website: http://shaunattwood.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/shaunattwood
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shaun-Attwood/228166633865948
Blog: http://jonsjailjournal.blogspot.co.uk/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/derickatt/featured
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/shaunattwood
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4085210.Shaun_Attwood