prison talk

Prison Writers Staff2020-09-18T07:18:00-04:00Fellow Inmates|

My First Cellmate Was An Axe Murderer

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 [...]

By Chris Dankovich

Prison Writers Staff2020-08-21T10:14:21-04:00Daily Survival|

10 Tips For A Better Life in Prison

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 [...]

By Daniel Harris

Prison Writers Staff2020-08-15T10:59:10-04:00My Crime|

How My “Death By Cop” Idea Didn’t Work Out

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 [...]

By Daniel Harris

Prison Writers Staff2020-08-15T07:30:11-04:00Bizarre or Funny, Editor's Choice|

Why Is This Car Thief in a Supermax Prison?

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 [...]

By Sidney Martin

Prison Writers Staff2020-11-11T15:50:57-05:00Hope & Change, Lifers & Solitary|

A Cell Search Reveals Diamonds In The Rough

We were handcuffed in our boxers and shower slippers, barely awake. They, however, were ready, looking for a reason to hit the button. And to be dead honest, they would've dish-ragged us in that unit that night had we'd done or said anything.

By Andre Coe

Prison Writers Staff2020-08-19T18:02:26-04:00Hope & Change, Reform & Reentry|

Latinx Prisoners Take Self-Help to a New Level

I've watched countless faces pass through what seems to be a revolving door, leading out, and—all too often—right back into my home. It's rarely difficult to pinpoint who I'll see again by their behaviors while incarcerated. Some choose to believe the narrative that they're little more than animals—as evident by the cages they're locked in—while others cling to a sense of humanity with a vigor that's impossible to overlook, because it makes them a glaring minority in an environment where only ignorance and violence are praised.

By Michael J. Moore

Prison Writers Staff2020-08-11T18:31:32-04:00Daily Survival, Going to Prison|

33 Lessons I Learned in a Women’s Prison

The people in the position to help the most have the power to hurt the most. People who go around pushing buttons will eventually break one. "I'm sorry" should not be the intermission between disrespectful acts. Every prisoner represents multiple [...]

By Dorothy Maraglino

Prison Writers Staff2020-11-11T06:00:55-05:00My Crime|

My Crime: It Got Me Two Life Sentences

Brutal Murders. Victims Stabbed 83 Times. Those were just some of the headlines above stories filled with truth and lies. Stories about a sociopathic monster. Surely a villain made for novels and movies. Those were the only places I [...]

By Jason Cooper

Prison Writers Staff2020-02-02T15:44:21-05:00Fellow Inmates|

Convict or Inmate? (There’s a huge difference, by the way.)

Convict or Inmate? First of all, the two are definitely not, in any way, synonymous. The first is a state of being – and describes who you inherently are. The second is a being of the state – and describes who you are told [...]

By John Sanders

Prison Writers Staff2021-01-11T11:49:44-05:00Juveniles in Prison|

Harlem to Juvie to Prison. What’d You Expect?

At the ripe, young age of eleven, and in the fifth grade of elementary school, I was arrested and transferred to Mount Sinai psych ward for assaulting my math teacher, Mr. Friedman. A counselor named Ms. Brown convinced the cops that I should be taken to a hospital instead of a jail cell.

By Sheldon Johnson