This chapter announces Peter Kropotkin as the original convict criminologist through a discussion of his seminal, but little known work, ‘In Russian and French Prisons‘, published in 1887. The combination of conventional empirical research with personal experience of imprisonment in Russia and France equip Kropotkin with unique resources for a critical discussion of various aspects of prison life, the role of prison in society and the futility of political reform. The chapter proceeds with a wide-ranging discussion of the role that experience of imprisonment has played in the working lives of various European intellectuals, with varying degrees of connection to criminology. It concludes with an account of the way campaign groups in the UK and Scandinavia have worked with prisoners and ex-prisoners to generate pressure for change in penal politics.