From Prison to Revolt is a 1973 book by Serge Livrozet, with a preface by Michel Foucault who characterizes it as "a philosophy of the people".
Arrested and tried, Livrozet was convicted of a crime against property. Through this partly autobiographical text, he highlights the social causes of delinquency, analyzing the prison from political, economic, and ideological points of view as an ex-prisoner. It has since been regularly republished.
Convicted on several occasions for various burglaries, Serge Livrozet was released from prison in 1972.
Partly writing in prison,[1] he published his first book De la prison à la révolte début 1973.
Michel Foucault wrote the preface.[2] The two men were among the founders of the Prisoners' Action Committee.[3]
The preface presents the book as an "individual and strong expression of a certain popular experience and thought regarding the law and illegality. A philosophy of the people".[4]
According to the former French police officer, Georges Moréas, this "first book, written in large part behind bars [...] shows the life circumstances, the series of events, that lead many individuals behind bars. In other words, there is not born criminal."[1]
In February 2000, invited to a literary program for a new edition of his first book, Serge Livrozet reiterated his point: "Prison is the receptacle, the terminal of our unjust society. A place for the poor, where the excluded are excluded [...] I have always said that theft has allowed me to be at this table today. I was destined to suffer and die, perhaps win the lottery if I let myself be trapped. I am not proud, but I do not regret anything."[5]