Jimmy Iakovos

Jimmy Iakovos is a pseudonym for a writer who is incarcerated in Georgia. It is illegal in some Southern states to earn a living while under a sentence of penal servitude. Writing has enabled Jimmy to endure over 30 years of continuous imprisonment.

Lifers Fall Through the Cracks of the Prison Security Classification System

The Georgia Department of Corrections assigns every person in its custody a security classification: Minimum, Medium or Close. This classification…

May 4, 2026

Georgia Lawmakers’ “Number-One Priority” is Literacy, Except in Prisons

Georgia legislators say they're going all-in to improve literacy rates. On March 10 the House approved a budget proposal of…

March 19, 2026

Georgia Moves Backwards With New Forensic Mental Health Hospital

For the past 16 years, Georgia was under a federal injunction: It could not build any state-run psychiatric hospitals, because…

March 10, 2026

Georgia “One Strike Act”: Even More Life Sentences, Even Less Parole

In late February, senators in Georgia introduced a bill known as the One Strike Act. Though the name—a riff of…

March 2, 2026

The Last Days of Parole

For the first time in six years, in 2025 the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles allowed more people…

January 26, 2026

Fixing Electronics in Prison

There are few soft surfaces in prison, so when one of us drops a pair of glasses or a radio…

December 29, 2025

The Georgia Parole Board Pardoned a Turkey

Each year when the president did the White House turkey pardons it always seemed kinda funny, even from prison. Seeing…

November 26, 2025

Some Prisons Have Quietly Stopped Giving Us Winter Clothes

After issuing prisoners the same lined winter jackets since 1991, last winter the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) sent them…

November 20, 2025

Georgia Prisons Raise Commissary Prices to Breaking Point

The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) has surprised those of us in its custody with yet another commissary price hike.…

November 4, 2025

Prison Contraband Drone Drops Are Becoming a Problem for Local Jails

Drones are such a popular method of bringing contraband into Georgia’s prisons that they're creating their own mini incarceration boom.…

October 27, 2025