Silencing Arthur Longworth
A prizewinning writer is punished for acting like a free man.
After more than three decades in the Washington state prison system, where he is serving life without parole for aggravated murder, Arthur Longworth can stake a legitimate claim to being a writer. In 2016, from his cell at the Monroe Correctional Complex just outside Seattle, he managed to publish a 186-page novel that earned positive reviews and is available on Amazon and at bookshops around the country.
His prose has been read onstage by novelist Junot Díaz. He is a multiple winner of the PEN America prison writing award. He is also a contributing writer for The Marshall Project.
But he is, Longworth says he is being punished for behaving like a free man.
