“In retrospect what most impresses me was the loneliness of the man. And his
dependency on the young lady. He could be vibrant when he talked about her. We didn’t
appreciate him sufficiently how much he needed us. Of course, all prisoners needed more
of us, there wasn’t enough time to go around. But it was harder for Reich than for many
others who were used to prison as a way of life.” (Reich’s co-prisoners had also committed
federal crimes, ranging from income tax evasion to kidnapping, but unlike him, many were
serving long sentences or were repeat offenders.)
Silber’s information bears on two cloudy points. According to Ilse Ollendorff,
Reich’s letters from prison to Peter “showed a kind of religious fervor somewhat difficult to
understand in the man who for so many decades of his life had fought very articulately any
kind of organized religion. He spoke about the need for ‘Harbors for Life,’ ‘Churches for
Life,’ ‘Sanctuaries for Life.’”^10 Reading the same letters, I find no evidence of any major
difference in Reich’s attitude toward religion in prison than before prison, nor any change in
his opposition to “organized religion.” Essentially, in his last months Reich repeated what he
had been saying for years that what was called “God” and what he had formulated as
“orgone energy” were identical We should revere “God” or “orgone energy,” and allow our
lives to be governed by its laws. In the stress and bleakness of prison life, the prison chapel
and religious metaphors no doubt had a special appeal for Reich. Silber did not discuss spe-
cific theological issues with him. It seems clear that Reich was not planning any conversion
to a religious creed.
The second hazy point concerns Reich’s writings in prison. Various persons have
commented that in prison Reich was working on a book entitled Creation.This manuscript
was never found after his death. Given Reich’s fear that his work might be stolen, one must
question how much he would commit to paper, especially mathematical equations. During
the prison period,as before, he said that valuable equations were “in his head,” to be shared
with the world only after the FDA ceased persecuting him.
Silber remembers Reich writing a good deal of the time. He showed the chaplain
some pages which Silber believed were more of an “unburdening himself of his thoughts,”
especially about the legal situation, than a scientific manuscript. At that time, all Reich’s let-
ters and any other writings had to go through the educational office.
The Lewisburg prison files yield considerable evidence of Reich’s writings. In June
1957,he was preparing an appeal for a presidential pardon; he had engaged a new lawyer,
Roy St. Lewis, to help him with his legal efforts. (I believe he had heard about St. Lewis
through Eva Reich.) On June 5, he wrote this lawyer stating that he was considering
renouncing his U.S. citizenship if “crimes by the FDA were not fully undone.”
In August, when the chairman of Silverfs parole board wrote Reich for informa-
tion about Silvert, Reich replied: “I cannot speak for Dr. Silvert ... He has no connection
with my basic position in functional logic and basic research. My case should be considered
entirely separate from his.” The board denied Silverfs application. (Earlier, Dr. Hubbard had
declared Silvert legally sane, but under Reich’s spell, in a kind of “folie a deux.”^11 Hubbard
recommended that Silvert should be kept in a different institution.) Silvert was a difficult
438 Myron SharafFury On Earth