Jack Henry Abbott

Jack Henry Abbott (born January 21, 1944 – died February 10, 2002) was an American criminal and author. He was released from prison in 1981, while serving sentences for forgery, manslaughter and bank robbery, after gaining praise for his writing and being lauded by a number of high-profile literary critics, including author Norman Mailer. Six weeks after being released, he claimed to have mistaken the intentions of a person who displayed no threat objectively, fatally stabbed him, was convicted of manslaughter, and returned to prison, where he committed suicide in 2002.