Stories
Prison Medical Care and a Serious Back Injury
Jayson Slaymaker describes severe back pain, delayed treatment, a hospital visit, and the daily realities of inadequate prison medical care. I've known for years that prison medical care in TDC is crap. Probably most of [...]
Life in Prison: Finding Comfort in a Cup of Coffee
James Berman reflects on life in prison and how a simple cup of coffee becomes a source of comfort, friendship, memory, and hope for freedom. The first comfort extended to me in prison came in [...]
Why Prison Rehabilitation Matters Before Release
Justin Welch says he has completed every educational and programming opportunity available to him in maximum security. Now, he argues that being denied transfer to a medium-security prison is preventing him from continuing his rehabilitation.
Love After Prison: Making a Relationship Work After Release
Love after prison brings new challenges for couples. Michael Philpot shares advice for making a relationship work when incarceration ends and reentry begins. If you read the first article I wrote entitled Love on Lockdown: [...]
Drug Trafficking at Angola Prison: How I Watched the Ring Unravel
Dennis Dickerson recounts how he learned about drug trafficking at Angola involving inmates, correctional officers, an FBI informant, and drugs shipped from California. Twenty-two prison guards and inmates were indicted at the Louisiana State Penitentiary [...]
Drug Addiction and the Price We Pay
Dani Harris reflects on drug addiction, overdose, parole, and the consequences when substance use affects everyone living around it. There seem to be some prisoners who never learn. I saw two old farts go sit [...]
Prison Labor Exploitation: How States Profit From Incarcerated Workers
Robert Haas examines prison labor exploitation and how state-run industries generate millions of dollars while paying incarcerated workers pennies per hour. Prison industries were sold to the public as rehabilitation—real jobs that teach skills and [...]
Prison Strip Search: What 25 Years of Them Does to a Man
Andrew Krosch examines a prison strip search, the humiliation, control, and the lasting cost to human dignity. Looks like I'm on my way to a prison strip search. Again. It's 11:30 a.m. here in Oak [...]
Independence Day in Prison: America Forgets Its Past. Why Can’t I?
Jeffery Shockley, serving a life sentence, reflects on independence day in prison and what it means to be judged forever by the past. Freedom. Independence. What do these words mean to a man serving a [...]
Wildfire Smoke: Breathless and Caged in the Heat
Sean Steele writes about wildfire smoke that filled an Ohio prison without air conditioning, leaving incarcerated people trapped in dangerous heat and smoke. The smoke rolled onto the prison yard like a biker gang. Several [...]
Serving a Life Sentence: Finding Growth in a Prison Wasteland
Richard Gross, serving a life sentence, reflects on transformation, purpose, and finding meaningful life in prison after years of anger and loss. One of the volunteers who leads a writing workshop at SCI Phoenix went [...]
Public Speaking in Prison: The Class That Terrifies Students
Chris Dankovich explains why public speaking in prison can be more terrifying for incarcerated college students than violence, solitary confinement, or other dangers they have faced. When you imagine the scariest place to be in [...]
Waupun Prison Conditions: Drugs, Lockdowns, and Mental Health
Matthew Neumann describes Waupun prison conditions, including lockdowns, drug overdoses, isolation, staffing shortages, and a growing mental health crisis. Located in the heartland of central Wisconsin, approximately 90 minutes north of Milwaukee, sits one of [...]
Friendship in Prison & the Pain of Separation
Jayson Scott Slaymaker reflects on friendship in prison and the pain of knowing that separation from close friends is inevitable. Prison isn't easy on friendship. In fact, it's downright hostile to the whole idea. All [...]
Thriving in Prison: How to Turn Your Time Into an Asset
Arnold Barnes explains how thriving in prison requires developing a purposeful routine, working toward personal growth, and turning incarceration time into an asset. There's a difference between doing time and letting time do you. Like [...]
Suicide Watch in Prison: What I’ve Witnessed as a Prisoner Observation Aide
Jerry Metcalf describes suicide watch in prison, including solitary confinement, Bam-Bam cells, degrading conditions, and what suicidal prisoners say about the experience. In federal prisons, when a prisoner is deemed suicidal, they are tossed into [...]
A Broken Heart in Prison
Eric Mills writes about his broken heart in prison. After discovering a passion for art and finding true love, he has a loss that changes his relationship with art forever. It was my first time [...]
Prison Lockdowns: The Humiliation of the Annual Shakedown
Chiron Francis writes about the dreaded ritual of prison lockdowns, when cells are searched, possessions are confiscated, and the few things people have managed to make their own can disappear in an instant. Prison lockdowns [...]
What Should You Call People in Prison?
Gordon Grilz writes about the loaded language used to label people in prison — and why labeling people in a dehumanizing way does nobody any good. What word is the proper title for someone who [...]
Choosing Life Without Parole Through Plea Bargain
Alex Friedmann explains how a plea bargain can pressure defendants into accepting life without parole simply to escape harsh pretrial confinement. Why would a defendant plead guilty, giving up his right to a trial and [...]
Can We Undo the North Carolina Prison System Collapse?
Eugene Trent explains how sentencing policies, overcrowding, staff shortages, and prolonged lockdowns are creating the conditions for a prison system collapse in North Carolina. In the early 1990s, then Governor Jim Hunt decided to pass [...]
Religious Discrimination in Prison Against Shi’a Muslims
Jibreel Mehdi explains how religious discrimination in prison prevents Shi’a Muslims from practicing their faith freely within the North Carolina prison system. After almost 29 years of incarceration, I've never been able to freely practice [...]
Prison Wages Leave Incarcerated Workers Unable to Afford Basic Needs
Robert Haas explains how stagnant prison wages and rising commissary prices force incarcerated people to choose between food, hygiene, and communication with their families. Feeding and supplying incarcerated people has always been expensive, but the [...]
Scrabble in Prison: Coping With Life One Word at a Time of
James Berman describes how four incarcerated men cope with prison life through scrabble in prison, trading humor, intellectual competition, and friendship -- one word at a time. Four ruthless pragmatists are anchored around a Scrabble [...]
