The movie, THE STANFORD EXPERIMENT, is a fictionalized account of the notorious study conducted by Stanford Professor Phil Zombardo in 1971. The research team used local newspaper ads to recruit 18 male students. Participants were told they’d be paid $15/hour to [...]
I am a mother of three children and the partner of an incarcerated individual. He’s a good man. A man who made mistakes as a young individual, more because of his upbringing and social standing than the heart inside his body. [...]
It took twenty-two years of hard time in prison for me to get how deep gratitude is. I've found it to be a force in the universe spawned in the interior forests, rivers, and seas of a person's soul. It pours [...]
Dear Drugs, I have been free of you only a few weeks and my mind is just clear enough to know I miss you. Every day I remember how I felt when I was yours and I think maybe it was [...]
My first cellmate in one of Michigan's adult prisons was an axe murderer. More specifically, he was a serial killer who killed multiple people with an axe on one Halloween night. I didn't know his background when they moved me into [...]
In Virginia, there are 6 levels of security, Level One being the lowest - with the most privileges -- and “Level S" is the highest level of security. Level S is a super maximum security prison, which houses the most violent [...]
Prisoners look upon the summer months in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) with dread and trepidation. For one is acutely aware that one may not survive another summer. Many do not. It is not uncommon for the temperature to [...]
“Covid-19 procedures in effect, masks on. Prepare for Chow,” the crackling PA announced. My door groaned open. I joined the snaking line to receive my breakfast tray. Someone darted away to a nearby cell. “Nuts to butts,” came the order. He [...]
The antisocial behavior of criminals is a symptom of a deeper illness that is not only the cause of crime but also the driving force behind untreated recidivism. The stated goal of incarceration should be to find programs or treatments [...]
I don't remember exactly what I said, but it couldn't have been more than a nanosecond after "fucking bitch" that my face exploded and blood gushed everywhere. We were grocery shopping at C-Town supermarket and I wanted the real 'Fruity Pebbles', [...]
My 25 years of experience doing time in prison make me an expert at avoiding the pitfalls of prison. All prisons are different, but many of the rules of conduct stay the same. Simple common sense will save you most [...]
I’m not perfect. I am too broken to ever be, but I can finally be proud of the man I am. For me, that is enough. I grew up in a redneck family in the backwoods of Mobile, Alabama. I’m the [...]
The first prisoner in Washington State to test positive for COVID-19 happened to be housed just across the sidewalk from me in the Minimum Security Unit at the Monroe Correctional Complex. Not entirely shocking, given that Monroe is a few miles [...]
To torture a person is to cause intense suffering to punish or coerce by inflicting severe pain or anguish to the mind or body. I have endured several forms of torture in the Virginia Department of Corrections at the notorious Supermax [...]
