Tony Vick

Tony has served almost three decades of a life with parole sentence in Tennessee. Before prison he lived as a closeted gay man; his Southern Baptist parents and an older brother have since died. While incarcerated he has worked as a tutor, clerk and newspaper editor. He’s also begun book clubs and writing workshops, and prisoner-led elder care programs. He writes about captivity in the hope of contributing to the prison reform movement. You can reach him by USPS.

Tony Vick #276187
South Central Correctional Facility
PO Box 279
Clifton, TN 38425-0279

Learning to Live With Suicide in Prison

[This article describes deaths by suicide, including references to the methods of suicide.]              …

November 14, 2024

Given Few Options for Chronic Pain, Prisoners Are Making Safer Moonshine

Moonshine, hooch, julep, toilet wine, clear—whatever they call it, over the past 30 years Tennessee’s prison bootleggers have improved their…

November 12, 2024

Photographing the Community on Tennessee’s Death Row

From 2010 to 2015 I was incarcerated in Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, the Tennessee prison that houses death row for…

October 29, 2024

A Death Row Pastor’s View of Executions

From 2010 to 2015 I was incarcerated at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee, the site of death row…

October 21, 2024

Some Thoughts on Dying in Prison

Over the course of my nearly 30 years in Tennessee Department of Correction custody, I've seen many friends die painlessly.…

October 2, 2024

Everyone in Prison Needs a Hustle. For a Small Fee, I’ll Help You Find Yours.

When you enter the men's prison system in Tennessee, you receive two blue, smock-like shirts and two matching pairs of…

September 9, 2024

Veterans in Prison, Cut Off From Support, Try to Make It on Their Own

C*, a 39-year-old Army veteran, struggled to adjust to daily life after coming home from Afghanistan and Iraq. When he…

August 20, 2024

When the Prison Grievance Process Is Worth the Risk

For nearly three decades, I've been hearing people scream for help. Screams of people being raped, robbed, stabbed. Screams of…

August 5, 2024

To See the US Prisons Crisis, Look at the Books We’re Trying to Read

The library at South Central Correctional Facility, a Tennessee prison privately operated by CoreCivic, consists of a single wall of…

August 1, 2024

“A Moral Crime”: 22 Years in Solitary, and the Prison System That Watched

At age 18, Frank De Palma entered Nevada Department of Corrections custody on a 10-year sentence for a nonviolent felony.…

July 18, 2024