In The Sanctuary of Outcasts

In The Sanctuary of Outcasts: A Memoir is a nonfiction book by American entrepreneur, publisher, and author Neil White, first published in 2009. Based on events in his life in the early 1990s after he was convicted for bank fraud, it chronicles the eighteen months he spent in a minimum-security federal prison that was housed on the same land as the last containment center for people suffering from leprosy in the United States, in Carville, Louisiana. The book explores White’s friendships that developed with both his fellow inmates and the patients, even as his life outside the prison fell further apart. Exploring themes of image, greed, and the transformative power of having everything stripped away, In the Sanctuary of Outcasts was a critically acclaimed memoir and established White as an in-demand author and public speaker. It won White the Author of the Year prize from the Southern Library Association in 2010, and is currently in development as a major motion picture.

In the Sanctuary of Outcasts begins as Neil White, a successful publisher and ambitious businessman, is caught forging checks and arrested. Convicted, he is sentenced to eighteen months in federal prison. He’s sent to the nearest minimum-security prison near his home, which is in Carville, Louisiana. However, Carville isn’t only a prison, it is also the last leper colony in the continental United States. From the start, White is terrified and worried for his health. He’s only there days when a person with leprosy spits in his face and he worries he’ll contract the disease, before he’s educated on the spread of the disease and how to protect himself. He finds the place bizarre and disturbing, as he’s surrounded by nuns and monks ministering to the victims of the disease. Many of the patients are missing limbs, parts of their face, or are otherwise disfigured. He compares the place to something out of a horror story. However, he finds that he’s afforded far more freedom than he would be at other prisons, and that opens the door to a life-changing experience.

White’s roommate at Carville is Doc, an eccentric would-be doctor with an invention that he says can cure impotence with an injection. He frequently uses White for business advice. White gets a job in the prison cafeteria, writing out the daily menu on the board. This is where he interacts with the leprosy patients the most. One of the first he comes into contact with is Ella Bounds, an elderly woman in an old-fashioned wheelchair. She has lived at Carville since she was twelve years old and lost her legs to the disease. Immediately, seeing this woman and the way she carries herself despite a lifetime in the colony, he gets a better perspective on his time in Carville and vows to make the most of his time in prison. He and Ella begin to talk, and he learns to see past the disease to the individual. He finds Ella to be one of the most fascinating people he’s ever met, and she inspires him to see past his status as a convict and hold on to hope for his future. White decides to use his time in prison to collect the stories of the people he shares Carville with, and then share their stories to the world. Thus, he can give a voice to the disease and the people abandoned to Carville by their families.



He also interviews inmates, including the eccentric Link, who nicknames White “Clark Kent” due to his glasses and his interest in journalism. Then there is Jimmy Harris, a patient who was writing his own book about life in quarantine. White learns about the history of leper colonies in the United States. He learns that people with leprosy were extensively persecuted, often placed in prison or isolation, or had their safety threatened if they refused to go. Most people believed the disease was a form of punishment from God. Free quarantine centers like Carville were only established in the 1920s. White is forced to come to terms with what he had become, and realize that his pursuit of shallow and material things had led him to his current situation. His friendships with the inmates and patients helps him through his grief when his marriage falls apart and his wife divorces him while he’s imprisoned. He’s released at the conclusion of his sentence, and immediately begins work on putting the interviews together into the book. Carville’s role as a leprosarium ended in 1999, as many of the patients passed away from old age. Today, it is a national museum for the history of leprosy in the United States.

Neil White is an American author and ex-convict, best known for his memoir In The Sanctuary of Outcasts. His memoir is credited with bringing new attention to the history of leprosy in the United States, and his story of redemption has made him one of the most sought-after public speakers in the country, especially in the American South.