The LGBTQ community is the most persecuted group of people in Michigan prisons. Between prison guards, other convicts, and the overall MDOC administration, LGBTQ prisoners often can't catch a break. Just the other day, while working out during one of those [...]
The hole, the new term for solitary confinement. It’s the place they take you when you break one of their “rules,” or at least they say you did. It’s supposed to be a deterrent from future acts of whatever they deem [...]
There’s a multitude of reasons why it’s important to be a father in prison. However, to me, the most important thing is to do all that’s humanly possible to help your children avoid the many pitfalls that can cause them to [...]
As a hardcore criminal, it was only a matter of time before I went to prison. What every detective knows, and most criminals don't, is that your average criminal is actually smarter than the cops and capable of getting away with [...]
YOU OVERSLEPT. So you are rushing. Maybe to a call-out or program. You throw on your greens. Lace up your boots. A buzzer screams, long and grating. You glance warily around your cell; you may have forgotten something. You are rushing. [...]
Prison is restrictive, and many items common in the free world are not allowed. But prisoners are an inventive bunch of outlaws without respect for rules. In such an environment, restrictions are bound to crumble, and prison contraband thrives. There are [...]
I have been in prison for 34 years, serving a life sentence for a murder I did not commit. My trial judge was the father-in-law of the murder victim in my case. My trial judge’s son was the second chair prosecutor. [...]
I watched my friend’s face with skepticism. No one in their right mind hoped for something so sinister. Yet his steady eyes only stared back at me, repeating what he had just said: “Seriously, part of me hopes I catch [...]
In October of 2008, my then-girlfriend and I were denied an apartment, forcing us to move back to Arlington from Chicago. At the time I was 26 years old. My family and I were still being punished for a felony theft [...]
The expression "when the time hits you" is used in reference to inmates with long sentences. It’s the moment when long-term incarceration forces an inmate to assess the gravity of his situation. I’m talking 15-year sentences -- or more. Now, I [...]
The world changed when a shocked nation saw the horrific video of George Floyd’s life being snuffed out by officer Derek Chauvin. Floyd’s death sparked outrage and in the aftermath people took to the streets--white and black together--wearing their Black Lives [...]
I was four years old when my mom vanished out of thin air one day. Both of my parents were high school dropouts and were involved in their second marriages. My father had already produced seven other children that he was [...]