That’s the Way It Is in Prison
Murf the Surf and I are walking in the rain past the steam plant heading back to the Southwest Unit. The chapel is off to our left, separated from… More
Juvenile Adults
When it comes to our criminal justice system, policies are too often incoherent and irrational. One of the most glaring examples of this is also one of the least… More
Walk Like a Man
Who’s Your Daddy? My birth mother’s name was Lula Mae. After her death my two sisters, three brothers, and I were taken in by various relatives. Melvin, the… More
Criminal Injustice
Many important lessons were taught by Hurricane Katrina, which demolished a large area along the gulf coast and killed more than one thousand people in Louisiana and Mississippi in… More
The Years In Between
The tall gray wall encircles fifty-five acres of land. Spired towers with narrow steel doors, loophole windows, and floodlights straddle the wall, like spines on a fearsome dragon. Rolling… More
How to Survive in Prison
Find out your boyfriend got married. Spend as much time in the yard as possible. Learn to fit in. Become someone’s girlfriend. Stop thinking about the outside world. Join… More
To Eat or Not to Eat, That Is the Question
An Examination of the Food Culture at One Modern American Detention Center Fictional and nonfictional accounts[1] of prison[2] life all point out the centrality of food in a prisoner’s life.… More
The Blessing of Jebidiah Goodytake
That damned Bernie! One night, without invitation or provocation, he just burst into my room and began tapping my pillow—thump thump thumpity thump—as if he were jabbering off some… More
I Hear The Train Comin…
Although I’m sure the world outside these prison walls is likely to forget and ignore the human beings banished to these small plots of land, to be abandoned by… More
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