Donald Lowrie

Donald Lowrie (March 26, 1875 – June 5, 1925) was an American newspaper writer and author. He became a well-known advocate of prison reform work after the release of his book My Life in Prison, in which he reflects on his ten-year incarceration in San Quentin State Prison north of San Francisco, California.

Biography

Early life Charles Donald Lowrie was born in Pennsylvania on March 26, 1875. Accounts of Lowrie's life prior to imprisonment are scarce; he held various jobs ranging from bookkeeping and stenography to working as a traveling salesman.

Eventually, Lowrie was out of money and without shelter. After three days, Lowrie had exhausted his resources in looking for work and determined that either suicide or crime was the only way out. Having a nickel in his pocket, he decided to flip a coin. If tails, Lowrie, living in San Francisco at the time, would throw himself into the San Francisco Bay; if heads, Lowrie would commit a crime.

Literary works Lowrie's best known literary work, My Life in Prison, was published in 1912. Stories in the book were not self-glorifying but rather plain and descriptive accounts of life in prison. Lowrie's simple writing style helped in obtaining confidence and understanding among his audience. The portrayal of the desolate and humiliating conditions prisoners had to face at the time was a central theme.

My Life Out of Prison was Lowrie's sequel, published in 1915, describing his struggle to readjust after being released from prison. Mildred Lowrie, a native of Danbury, Connecticut, bore him one son, Charles Donald Lowrie, Jr. (1918–1957).

Death and legacy After serving a few months for another burglary conviction, Lowrie was released on parole from Arizona Penitentiary. Two weeks later, on June 24, 1925, he died at the Phoenix, AZ home of a local architect, R. B. Dick Redington, who housed him at the time.

With My Life in Prison, Lowrie defined a new category of writing which tried to make a connection between the failure of individuals and their social class, thereby presaging some of the writings of black radicals of the 1960s and 1970s.

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