Going to Prison for Life
It's hard to endure going to prison for life -- and hard to endure the first day in a new prison, whichever it may be, even for someone who has over eighteen years in. You don't know where anything is, no [...]
New York
An Illiteracy Tale: Getting Out After 20+ Years
“Young brother,” said Old Man John, trying to get my attention away from my computer screen and the furious typing I was doing. “I need you to send an e-mail to my granddaughter.” I laughed, not because I thought it was [...]
Prison Gangs in New York: This Explains Everything
I got out of the Bloods. I realized that it is virtually impossible to consider someone your "brother" without the visceral love that comes with such, which is to say the prevailing emotion one feels in a prison gang is fear.
Her Name Was Mo And She Brought People Together
Some people knew her as Arlene Mohammed, but her name was Mo and she brought people together. Mo was a strong black woman from another era, the one that followed Jim Crow but preceded Civil Rights, the one when black men [...]
A Latin King Leader Spills His Guts
How Latin Kings operate is simple: in the beginning you’re reeled in with the beauty that comes with the unification between you and your own kind, then that’s reinforced with the security that comes with unifying with your own kind, and so on and so on.
Why I Let The Guy Go, Instead of Terminating on Sight
In 1992, summer in Brooklyn, New York came early. We had “permanent beef” with a West Indian crew, which meant trying to terminate each other on sight. Gunshots sparked so often that Flatbush residents didn’t have to wait for the [...]
Life As A Latin Kings Hitman
I’m a stick-up kid who robs any thing that moves. If they had money or drugs, or better yet, both, I did not hesitate to take it. I ended up with $160-grand and 33 kilos of cocaine. I knew the crew in the van would try to kill me, so I put everything in this big handbag and then took a big silk bag he had and put what I could in it.
Former Cop, Now Inmate, Says Mentally Ill In Prison Are Abused
It is no secret that the state has used the Prison system as a dumping ground for the mentally ill. Common sense would lead an observer to conclude that an environment as degenerative as prison is not the best location to [...]
Violence in Sing Sing Prison
One day I was returning from the morning yard recreation. As I neared the entrance gate, I heard a "Thwap!” and saw a body fall to the concrete few feet ahead of me. Instead of anyone rushing to his aid, the [...]
Three Generations with a Father in Prison
In April of 2008, my son was arrested for accidentally killing a Columbia graduate student while trying to impress a group of shallow friends who taunted, egged and dared him to attack the Asian man. Fast forward, my son eventual pled [...]
Acts Of Kindness Are Rare in Prison But This Really Happened
What would you expect to find in a maximum-security prison? Convicted felons? Of course. Spontaneous violence? Check. Gang members? Plenty. Humanity? Come again? “This is the last place I’d ever want to be sick,” I thought as I stared at the [...]
YES, It Happens. Guards Beat Me Up Out Of Sight Of Cameras
“The next time I have to tell you something twice, I’m gonna knock ya teeth outta ya mouth,” he whispered, his breath hot against my neck, the sharp hairs above his lip pricking my earlobes. If he weren’t 6’3” and about [...]
When Daddy Is In Solitary
One night in the early part of 2000, as I lay in my bed in Sullivan Correctional Facility’s Special Housing Unit (solitary), my mind was full of thoughts of my daughter Santana. Thoughts of her would fill my mind every day [...]
Transexual: “I Was Raped By a Prison Guard”
The alarm went off, signaling that once again the prison was about to be shut down and placed on lock-down because of the major fights going on between rival gangs within the prison walls. So now, as usual, we were [...]
Twisted Prison Guards, Dime A Dozen
An obese, red-faced prison guard, his grey hair greased back, gets up from his swivel chair and shouts, "Hey retard, get over here!" He points at me and then in the direction of a faded orange brick wall. Two rookie guards [...]
A Prison Theater Program Changed My Life
Courtesy Adam Roberts Phoenix Players Theatre Group (PPTG) is a small, selective theater group that operates quietly amidst the 1,600 residents of the maximum-security prison in New York, meeting on Friday nights in a classroom in the prison’s [...]