The Literature of Incarceration

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo begins in 1815 as the peasant Jean Valjean, just released from 19 years' imprisonment in the galleys  — 5 for stealing bread for his starving sister and her family and 14 more for numerous escape attempts — is turned away by innkeepers because his yellow passport marks him as a former convict. He sleeps on the street, angry and bitter, but is then shown kindness.  Eventually, he succeeds in business and tries to make the world a better place.  French writers like Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas appreciated the evils of incarceration in prisons or ship galleys. 
 
We see the theme of incarceration in the literature of most Western nations.  Some great Russian, English and French authors have either experienced some form of incarceration themselves, in connection with their families, or read about people who were embittered by years in prison.  

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