prison

“Fifty Years Just Ain’t Enough”: Dying in Prison, and Still Denied Release

Donald Snook, 70, has 38 plants in his cell in Washington Corrections Center (WCC). It looks like a jungle. There’s…

February 14, 2024

Cash Assistance for Prison Re-Entry Still Controversial, for Some Reason

On February 7, the Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee killed legislation that was almost guaranteed to increase housing and employment stability…

February 9, 2024

As Prisons Shutter Classes and Mental Health Care, Drugs Fill the Gap

I first met David "Lucky" Kestner about 15 years ago, when we were both incarcerated at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution…

January 24, 2024

The Tightrope of Talking About Mental Health in Prison

Dan*, a 40-something prisoner in Tennessee’s South Central Correctional Facility (SCCF), wants to make it clear that he doesn't intend…

January 16, 2024

He Fought Rockefeller Laws That Cost Him 10 Years. Now He Sells Cannabis.

I know the horrors of the failed War on Drugs," Terrence Stevens said heavily. Convicted in 1992 under New York's…

November 15, 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

As a Trans Woman, Sex Offender Laws Make Re-Entry a Test I’m Meant to Fail

[Read Part 1 of this story here.] For the first 30 minutes of the drive to my release address on…

September 19, 2023

Leaving Prison After 13 Years, and the Preparations I Made to Get Here

On September 13, I got up at 4 am and took a shower. I fiddled with my belongings, which had…

September 18, 2023

How We Clean Knife Wounds in Prison, Without Going to Medical

[Read Part 1 of this story here] Fighting is a fact of life in prison. I've spent most of the…

August 14, 2023

A Prison Breakup Tested My Meth Recovery. Alcohol Helped Me Keep It.

I met Paul in 2018, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison. I was an admin orderly; he was a new…

June 28, 2023