Main content

We survived 7 years of solitary confinement by tapping Anna Karenina in code

The incredible story of Adan Abokor who, through a code of knocks, tapped out the entirety of Tolstoy's epic Anna Karenina on a prison wall, in solitary confinement to preserve the sanity of his fellow prisoners in adjacent cells. Adan is in the middle at the back on this 1989 photo, with Mohamed - his friend in the next cell who he helped with Anna Karenina - the tall man to his right. The photo was taken immediately after their release from prison in May 1989.

First broadcast on Short Cuts, 21 June 2016.

Release date:

Duration:

6 minutes

This clip is from