"J'ai reçu une lettre de Betty qui me remercie, car je lui ai offerte une mobylette. Pourquoi me diras-tu ? Tout simplement parce que j'aime voir les enfants heureux et je crois que leur bonheur m'est nécessaire. Cette môme me plaît de par sa mentalité...""

Autograph letter dated and signed by Jacques Mesrine, dated Monday, October 11, 1976, 70 lines in blue ink on one recto-verso page addressed to his love of the time, Jeanne Schneider, thanks to whom the manuscript of Instinct de mort was discreetly smuggled out of prison.
Jacques Mesrine, then incarcerated at La Santé, showers with gifts the people he loves because he wants their happiness: "Comme cela j'ai payé une mobylette à mes trois gamines. Toi ce sera une quatre roues (sic)." ["Like this I paid for a moped for my three girls. For you it will be four wheels (sic)."]
He shows all his affection for a young girl named Betty whom he seems to cherish more than his own daughter Sabrina: "Peut-être que je recherche en Betty ce que je ne trouve pas en Sabrina et que Mury m'a refusé ! Tu sais mon ange ; à 15 ans j'aurais tellement aimé avoir un copain de 40 ans à qui je puisse tout dire, qui sache m'aider ou m'offrir mon rêve. Peut-être que ce cadeau, je me le fais à moi-même..." ["Maybe I'm looking for in Betty what I don't find in Sabrina and what Mury refused me! You know my angel; at 15 I would have loved so much to have a 40-year-old friend to whom I could tell everything, who would know how to help me or offer me my dream. Maybe this gift, I'm giving it to myself..."] for whom he has no more confidence, feeling betrayed: "Mais on ne devient jamais l'ami de quelqu'un qui vous juge. Pas plus que pour Sabrina ! qui elle m'a trompé dans ma confiance donc dans mon amour... Quand on use les sentiments, ils ne redeviennent jamais les mêmes." ["But one never becomes the friend of someone who judges you. No more than with Sabrina! who deceived my trust and therefore my love... When feelings are worn out, they never become the same again."]
Public enemy No. 1 takes great pride in his relationship with Jeanne Schneider based on honesty: "C'est peut-être pour cela que je me suis toujours refusé à te mentir - quitte à te faire souffir. Je n'ai aucun passé...mais un seul présent "Toi". C'est peut-être cela qui fait que notre amour dure depuis 10 ans " ["Maybe that's why I've always refused to lie to you - even if it means making you suffer. I have no past...but only one present 'You'. Maybe that's what makes our love last for 10 years "]
Jacques Mesrine then turns to material considerations, so important for a prisoner: "J'ai reçu ton linge. Je ne risque pas d'avoir froid cet hiver. Le polo est très bien." ["I received your clothes. I won't risk being cold this winter. The polo shirt is very good."] before castigating the inhumanity of the prison system and its indifference to suffering: "Mais nous n'avons rien à attendre des juges et si ma lettre au président a été ferme, c'est le genre de lettre qu'il comprendra mieux que le style ventre à terre..." ["But we have nothing to expect from judges and if my letter to the president was firm, it's the kind of letter he will understand better than the groveling style..."]
As an eternally untamed man, Jacques Mesrine never ceases to advocate fighting against the prison administration: "On ne se défend pas en mettant sa tête dans le sable comme l'autruche ! Dès l'instant où l'on prend une arme dans la main... il faut s'attendre à payer ! que Michou le comprenne ce n'est pas le moment d'être "bébé" mais celui d'être femme..." ["You don't defend yourself by putting your head in the sand like an ostrich! From the moment you take a weapon in your hand... you must expect to pay! let Michou understand this is not the time to be a 'baby' but to be a woman..."]
Jacques Mesrine ends this beautiful letter with a moving declaration of love full of optimistic humor: "Ton vieux tigre pose de doux bécots sur tout ce qui est toi. Bonne nuit chaton et un moral d'acier est de rigueur ok. Je t'adore (chanceuse) & Ton mystère Jacques !! "Te adoro A toi seule." ["Your old tiger puts gentle kisses on everything that is you. Good night kitten and a steel morale is required ok. I adore you (lucky one) & Your mystery Jacques !! 'Te adoro A toi seule.'"]
Rare and very beautiful letter from public enemy No. 1 in which we see him as pugnacious as ever and where we discover him disappointed by his daughter, taken with affection for a young girl he would like to consider as his own child, and still as much in love with his companion.