The author Piri Thomas has died at the age of 83. Born to Puerto Rican-Cuban parents in New York City’s Spanish Harlem, Thomas’ bestselling 1967 memoir, “Down These Mean Streets,” is a considered a classic chronicle of life in inner-city America. His other books include “Seven Long Times” and “Stories from El Barrio.” Thomas spent many years in prison and was a vocal critic of the U.S. penal system. In a 1996 appearance on Democracy Now!, Thomas discussed the fate of Puerto Rican political prisoners in the United States.

Piri Thomas: “These men and women have not committed any heinous crimes. They have fought for respect. They have for independence of their island, because I, as they, believe that every country, including every island nation, has a right to their own self-determination. And murderers in this country have been let out of prison, and these people who are teachers and intellectuals, they’re not—you know, have been held down 20, 15, 25 years, sentenced to 70, 75 years. Who hears of such things like this? And so, we’re saying to the government, we are not an invisible people. We are a people that are now united, affirming that we have a right, as any other human being, to be seen, not to be put into a little corner and forgotten.”