C Dreams

C is a writer and advocate interested in prison/criminal justice reform, LGBTQ rights, harm reduction and government/cultural criticism. She has studied history/theology with the Third Order of Carmelites and completed degrees in Systematic Theology. She is currently studying law.

In Defense of Contraband Cell Phones

As a transgender woman incarcerated in a men’s prison system, each day was a fight to maintain my sense of…

September 3, 2024

Everyone I Know on Parole Is Vaping

Nobody ever really talked about cigarette alternatives in prison. Tobacco is abundantly available to anyone in Georgia Department of Corrections…

August 21, 2024

Sex Workers Are “Trafficking Victims” Until Cops Don’t Want Them to Be

I started sex work in my early teens. Older boys in the foster care homes and group homes I grew…

August 14, 2024

I Know ID Verification Is Anti-Trans, But at Least Let Me File My Taxes

In the middle of the 13 years I spent incarcerated, there was a brief period in 2018 that I was…

July 23, 2024

What Options Does the Sex Offender Registry Leave Us, If Not Sex Work?

They say that time is money, but if that’s true then mine doesn’t seem to be worth that much. I…

July 16, 2024

Georgia Enacts New Fentanyl Penalties, Naloxone Access (Sort of) in Schools

More than 100 new laws took effect in Georgia on July 1. Though only some sections of punitive cash bail…

July 1, 2024

“Preventable Security Lapses”—Gun Violence Comes to Georgia Prisons

At around 4 am on June 16, Smith State Prison became the site of the only fatal shooting in recent…

June 25, 2024

“Split Sentences” and the Right to Housing

The room I rent in a Georgia boarding house for people on the sex offender registry costs $800 per month.…

December 7, 2023

Not Everyone Chooses the “Sober Dating” Life. Some of Us Are on Parole.

Many people who are in recovery have noted that the culture of modern dating isn’t the most suited to them.…

November 3, 2023

If I Join a Church After Prison, How Much of My Past Is Safe to Disclose?

Last Sunday, I tried to work up the courage to go to church. I did some Googling of the churches…

October 25, 2023