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Malcolm Braly

Page-to-Screen: Malcolm Braly’s On the Yard

By Brian Greene

July 29, 2022

Background They say write what you know. Malcolm Braly (1925-80) knew prisons. Orphaned as a teenager, the Oregon native spent the majority of his years aged approximately 17-40 behind bars. A career burglar and multiple parole violator, he was in a reform school at 17 and in the facility at San Quentin for the crux…

False Starts: A Memoir of San Quentin and Other Prisons by Malcolm Braly

By Brian Greene

February 11, 2016

Previously, I wrote an appreciation of Malcolm Braly’s 1961 prison novel Felony Tank as part of my Lost Classics of Noir series for Criminal Element. I singled out the book for being a noteworthy and under-appreciated work of edgy crime fiction, as well as a standout tale about life behind bars. There’s a reason—besides his…

Felony Tank by Malcolm Braly -- A Lost Classic of Noir

Lost Classics of Noir: Felony Tank by Malcolm Braly

By Brian Greene

February 6, 2015

Life inside prisons makes for interesting stories. I wouldn’t know where to begin in reeling off some of the more compelling books, movies, and TV shows that have explored this world. But having just read Malcolm Braly’s 1961 prison novel Felony Tank, I can add it to my personal list of favorite jail tales. It…

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