prison

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

Watching the Trump Trials in Prison, With Con Artists Cheering Him On

Our living unit at South Central Correctional Facility in Tennessee doesn't have a communal TV, but there are TVs in…

May 15, 2024

The Private Prisons Industry Is Changing What Constitutes “Food”

Prisoners in solitary confinement are often served something called Nutraloaf. Imagine taking all the old crap from the back of…

April 4, 2024

The Recipes I Use to De-Escalate Violence in Prison

In 2015 I was transferred to West Tennessee State Penitentiary, a prison with a reputation for violence. My new cellie…

April 3, 2024

“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