Samuel Roth - Jail Time

Jail Time

Because of his need for money, after 1933 Roth began distributing strictly banned pornography, receiving illustrated books and pamphlets and sometimes leaving them for trusted customers in subway lockers. The FBI tracked the works to their source and Roth spent 1936 to 1939 in Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary; he also spent the years 1957 to 1961 there, due to his conviction for distributing what was considered obscene, and pandering to prurience in his advertisements. Overall, incarcerations include:

• 1928: 3 months in New York "workhouse" for possessing indecent materials with intent to sell
• 1929: 6 months imprisonment in "Detention Headquarters, NYC" for violation of parole: occurred after NY Society for the Suppression of Vice raided Roth's Fifth Avenue warehouse and found copies of Lady Chatterley's Lover, Ulysses, Fanny Hill, other titles and pictures
• 1930: 2 months in Moyemensing Prison, remanded after serving time in New York for selling obscene books (includikng Ulysses) in Philadelphia
• 1934: $100 fine (otherwise 20 days in jail)
• 1957-1961: incarceration at Lewisburg penitentiary

(NB: Prior to these dates were several suspended sentences and fines.)

There were several other cases where the charge was dismissed. It is important to note that on one occasion his civil rights were violated by the District Attorney's office of New York City. In 1954, police, under direction of an assistant District Attorney, raided the office of the Seven Sirens Press on Lafayette Street and Roth's apartment on the upper West Side. All books, correspondence, and furniture were removed from the office. Roth attempted to leave the apartment to make a telephone call and an altercation with a police officer occurred. After Roth promised not to sue, the case was dismissed due to vagueness of the search warrant and illegal methods of search and seizure