Should a Killer Profit From Putting His Death Row Writings Up for Sale?
The New York Times
Albert Jones’s 11 books describe life in prison. His victims’ relatives say his family should not benefit from a sale of his story.
The 65th Annual New York International Antiquarian Book Fair at the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan this weekend may seem like a maze of musty rarities.
But among the first editions and historical manuscripts is an archive of writings from an unlikely place: death row at San Quentin Prison in California.
The archive contains much of the vast output of Albert Jones, a 60-year-old killer who wrote 11 books while confined to 1-EB-117, his cell in the prison’s East Block for a quarter-century. He was one of hundreds of condemned prisoners held on the block until its closing last year.
The writings by Mr. Jones, who was sentenced to death in 1996 for a double murder, are a rare portal into San Quentin’s death row, said Ben Kinmont, the California bookseller who is handling the sale for Mr. Jones and asking $80,000 for the archive.
“There are no other comparable archives,” Mr. Kinmont said. The collection, which includes private journals, drawings and personal objects, is “the largest and most complete body of material to ever come out of San Quentin’s death row,” he added.
