prisons

The Right to Consensual Sex—and Condoms—in Prison

Greg* has been incarcerated in Tennessee for about 18 months. He’s been on a waiting list for job placement for…

November 8, 2023

Tennessee’s HIV Sex Offender Law Discourages Testing, Not Transmission

In the mid-'90s at Washington State Penitentiary, a corrections officer (CO) and I had been yelling at each other for…

November 2, 2023

In Brazil, New Era of Private Prisons as Feds Auction Contracts to Build Them

On October 6 in Rio Grande do Sul, the government of Brazil held the first auction for a public-private partnership…

October 26, 2023

Texas’s “Drug-Busting” Prisons Lockdown Will Only Harm Us

From September 6 to October 16, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) implemented a “systemwide lockdown and comprehensive search”…

October 26, 2023

Do These Sex Offender Employment Restrictions Make Sense to Anyone?

In the month since I was released from Georgia Department of Corrections custody, I’ve been offered four different jobs. I…

October 19, 2023

Selling Meth Sent Him to Prison. It Also Saved His Life.

Louis Bell was a type of person we typically didn’t encounter in our Tennessee prison. A middle-aged white man with…

October 18, 2023

The Drug-User Cliques in Our Prison, and the People Left Using Alone

The drug supply in our prison has a lot of variety. Tobacco; marijuana; a couple of different meth supplies, some…

October 12, 2023

In WA Prisons, Cultural Groups Build Community. DOC Wants to Erase Us.

Incarceration in the United States has long been used to strip cultural identities from people of color. Through the centuries,…

October 11, 2023

WA Prisons Clear All Guards to Carry Narcan. Not All Intend to Do So.

Washington State Department of Corrections (WDOC) staff are now permitted to carry Narcan while on duty. Though the change is…

October 4, 2023

Amid the Trauma of Prison, an Unexpected Oasis: Crochet Club

Travis learned to crochet from his grandmother. He was 10 when she showed him his first stitch, in 1986, and…

October 3, 2023