A closer look
Punishing Through Bureaucracy
An obscure policy claimed to reward me for doing the work of rehabilitation—by sending me back to a high-security prison.
incarcerated and formerly incarcerated authors
98 posts in ‘incarcerated and formerly incarcerated authors’
activism
Iron Bars to Iron Will
People ask me now, three years since my release, what freedom feels like. It feels like the protests in Minneapolis.
first person
The Reality of Love Behind Bars
Neither of us imagined that love and prison were compatible until we met. Now the state is weaponizing our marriage.
first person
“One Minute Remaining”
As an incarcerated mother, I have fought to remain in my children’s lives. I’ve done everything I could—and it still wasn’t enough.
Defending Prison Journalism
“I Want to Find the Connectedness in Everyone.”
The nation’s best-known prison journalist discusses his book ‘The Tragedy of True Crime’ and the challenges faced by those who write from inside.
advocacy
Ending Felony Disenfranchisement
More than half of states do not automatically restore voting rights upon release from prison. A short film contributes to the effort underway in Georgia to end this anti-democratic practice.
first person
CPS Stole My Children
When I was falsely accused of abuse, North Carolina took away my sons. The charges were dropped but I still may never see them again.
Defending Prison Journalism
What Is the Role of the Prison Journalist?
A former editor-in-chief of a prison newspaper examines the responsibility of prison journalists, the constraints they work under, and why reporting from inside matters.
first person
‘You Will Lose Your Teeth’
I aged into adulthood under the violent custody of New York’s Downstate prison. My journey to manhood has required me to prove I’m neither a monster nor a statistic.
culture
The Prison Spectacle
How reality TV turns incarceration into entertainment—and helps strengthen the very systems of violence it claims to expose.
In Depth
Why Are Freed People Still in My Prison?
In Texas, when someone makes parole, they will only be released once they have an approved home. Many of us have nowhere to go, and no one to help us…
first person
I’m in Prison. My Opera Was Performed at Carnegie Hall.
Inside Sing Sing, I turned my twenty-five-year sentence into music fit for one of the world’s greatest stages.
first person
I Walked Past Him
In prison, a cancer diagnosis might as well be a death sentence.
Defending Prison Journalism
Prison Journalism Is a Disinfecting Light. That’s Why Prisons Suppress It.
A new initiative on prison journalism from the Institute to End Mass Incarceration aims to restore prison transparency and First Amendment rights for incarcerated journalists.
first person
Never Forget Attica Day
Decades of policy failures, including a culture of impunity for correctional officers, have eroded many of the gains that the Attica uprising’s incarcerated leaders fought and died to secure.
collective action
Strike!
A collective, nationwide, complete refusal to work in prison would make the carceral status quo impossible to maintain.
first person
108 Degrees
Eight Virginia prisons currently have no air-conditioning. We go to sleep in sweat and wake up in sweat, with no respite from dangerous heat.
Institutions
No Exit
When parole boards are allowed to give the original crime more weight than proof of change, they become an absurdist theater of foregone conclusions.
poetry
An Essay in Acrostic: P.O.L.I.C.E.
“They tell us we have the right to take up / space. But they come in armor and shields / that say otherwise.”
interventions
Free Books
Programs that send literature to incarcerated people provide a vital lifeline, facilitating personal growth and imaginative escape.
In Depth
Just Learning
Incarcerated people are eligible for Pell Grants again—but will prisons actually allow us to flourish as college students?
interventions
Expert Guides
Reentry guides supplied by prisons are light on details and heavy on judgement. That’s why formerly incarcerated people are writing a guide for New York filled with their own lived…
first person
What’s in a Name?
Being forced by prison authorities to publish anonymously caused me to reflect on the long history of Black authors choosing names in response to state violence.
poetry
Hard Time in Prison
I had one / wish it will be I wish I can / get out of this cuz this is / a suffering pain time I’m doing
poetry
Two poems
“Shower Call Down Below” & “29 L-Building”
poetry
Hi Rise
I’m eligible to smoke til I fall clapping my / Hands and feet all the same time / Laffing at all this shit.
poetry
Poetry from Mississippi State Penitentiary
Work from poets incarcerated in Parchman’s Unit 29
poetry
Three poems
“Crying Johnny,” “Officer Judy Gives Instructions to the Lock Down Inmates,” & “Holiday Special Meal”
first person
39 Years
I rejected a plea deal and chose instead to go to trial. I would not understand until too late that I had placed a target on my back.
first person
On Aging and Dying in Captivity
This year I passed a grim milestone: I’ve now been in captivity longer than I’d been alive when I was arrested.