prison

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

“In the Dark”—the Wait for Another Unexplained Parole Denial

The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles consists of five people who report to no one. They have complete…

May 12, 2023

The Lonely Work of HIV Harm Reduction in Prison

Many people living with HIV who pass through Washington Corrections Center (WCC) tell me their status, because I'm known as…

April 4, 2023

Harm Reduction for the Syringes We Make in Prison

Harm reduction supplies are hard to come by in prison. In some facilities, people who inject drugs might use needles…

March 27, 2023