One of the icons of a once rebellious generation, this lithograph is the first product of the rage and disgust that the artist felt at the arrest and conviction for possession of heroin of his dealer Robert Fraser,  alongside Mick Jagger (who was eventually released), about 54 years ago now.  “I had felt a strong personal indignation at the insanity of legal institutions which could jail anyone for the offence of self-abuse with drugs. The sentence in the case of my friend Robert Fraser was blatantly not intended to help him through a sickness, it was to be a notorious example to others. As the judge declared ‘There are times when a swingeing sentence can act as a deterrent’. There were several moves towards the subject at the time of Robert’s arrest in 1967. Gradually, the sense of outrage subsided into quiet deliberations on the technical requirements of the expression of that anger.” R. Hamilton. Collected words. London: Thames and Hudson, 1982, p 104. The print became also the first step in a technical and intellectual process of progressive reduction culminating in the famous Release series, based on the photograph at the top left of the composition, of Mick Jagger and Robert Fraser being taken to court manacled together.