Shaun Attwood

Using a tiny pencil sharpened on a cell door, Shaun Attwood wrote one of the first prison blogs, Jon’s Jail Journal. His writing was smuggled out of the jail run by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, turning the international media spotlight on the conditions.

Raised in a small chemical-manufacturing town in northern England, Shaun was the first from his family to go to university. As a penniless student, he took his business degree to Phoenix, Arizona, and worked his way up to become a stock-market millionaire.

But he also led a double life. An early fan of the Manchester rave scene, Shaun headed an organisation that threw raves and distributed Ecstasy. On May 16th 2002, a SWAT team knocked his door down.

Facing a life sentence, Shaun entered a lengthy legal battle. After two years of being held unsentenced, Shaun was convicted of money laundering and drug offences. He was sentenced to 9½ years, and served almost 6.

Shaun had only read finance books prior to his arrest. While incarcerated, he submerged himself in literature – reading over 1000 books, including many classics. By studying original texts in psychology and philosophy, he sought to better understand himself and his past behaviour.

Shaun was released in December 2007, and continues to campaign against Sheriff Joe Arpaio. He keeps Jon’s Jail Journal going by posting stories mailed to him by his prison friends.

In July 2008, he won a Koestler award for a short story, which he read to an audience at the Royal Festival Hall.

Shaun presently lives near London, and talks to student audiences across the UK and Europe about his jail experiences and the consequences of getting involved in drugs and crime.