Chapters Eleven and Twelve Summary and Analysis

In Chapter Eleven, Damien switches the focus of his writing from his biography back to his time in jail. In this section he talks about the sleep deprivation that is caused because the lights are always on in the prison with the exception of about four hours a day. He writes that even during these four hours there is constant noise from the guards' activity in the hallways, talking and dropping keys. On the subject of light, Damien writes of the ways that prisoners learned to cook using the heat of a 100-watt light bulb.

The inmates also learn to pass things back and forth to one another through a form of fishing using string and weights. They have found this form of fishing also works to send something to someone in a cell far...