Preface.

The author reports this special issue arose from the July 2007 conference "Prison Writings in Early Modern Britain" held at the University of York's Centre for Renaissance & Early Modern Studies. It discusses various reports published within the issue including one by Kathleen Lynch on British author John Bunyan, one by Catie Gill on writings by imprisoned Quaker women about prophecy and martyrdom, and one by Jerome de Groot on the writings of prisoners during the English Civil War and the Commonwealth periods.