Christy Perez

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

Do These Sex Offender Employment Restrictions Make Sense to Anyone?

In the month since I was released from Georgia Department of Corrections custody, I’ve been offered four different jobs. I…

October 19, 2023

Trying to Make Friends as an Adult, After an Adult Life Spent in Prison

The other day I was in Walmart when a little girl, maybe 8 or so, struck up a conversation. Her…

October 13, 2023