PEN America
Donate Now
  • Issues & Advocacy
    • Book Bans
    • Educational Censorship
    • Campus Free Speech
    • Disinformation
    • Online Abuse
    • Writers at Risk
    • Artists at Risk Connection (ARC)
    • Global Advocacy
    • NYC Literary Action Coalition
    • Next Gen PEN
  • Writers & Readers
    • Literary Awards
    • Grants & Fellowships
    • PEN Across America
    • Prison and Justice Writing
    • Workshops & Trainings
    • Writers in the Schools Committee
    • Children’s and YA Books Committee
    • Translation Committee
  • Festival & Events
    • Events Calendar
    • Event Series
    • 2023 World Voices Festival
    • 2023 PEN America Literary Gala
    • World Press Freedom Day 2023
    • 2023 PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony
    • Authors’ Evenings
  • Read The Latest
    • Research & Reports
    • Take Action
    • Press Releases
    • Interviews & Features
    • PEN America Publications
  • Membership
  • About
    • PEN America at 100
    • About Us
    • PEN America Washington D.C.
    • PEN America Racial Equity Statement
    • Leadership and Staff
    • Trustees
    • Careers
    • Digital Archives
  • Give
    • Donate Now
    • Become a PEN America Young Patron
    • More Ways to Give
    • Shop
PEN America
Donate Now
  • Advocacy
    & Action
  • Writers
    & Readers
  • Festivals
    & Events
  • Issues & Advocacy
    • Book Bans
    • Educational Censorship
    • Campus Free Speech
    • Disinformation
    • Online Abuse
    • Writers at Risk
    • Artists at Risk Connection (ARC)
    • Global Advocacy
    • NYC Literary Action Coalition
    • Next Gen PEN
  • Writers & Readers
    • Literary Awards
    • Grants & Fellowships
    • PEN Across America
    • Prison and Justice Writing
    • Workshops & Trainings
    • Writers in the Schools Committee
    • Children’s and YA Books Committee
    • Translation Committee
  • Festival & Events
    • Events Calendar
    • Event Series
    • 2023 World Voices Festival
    • 2023 PEN America Literary Gala
    • World Press Freedom Day 2023
    • 2023 PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony
    • Authors’ Evenings
  • Read The Latest
    • Research & Reports
    • Take Action
    • Press Releases
    • Interviews & Features
    • PEN America Publications
  • Membership
  • About
    • PEN America at 100
    • About Us
    • PEN America Washington D.C.
    • PEN America Racial Equity Statement
    • Leadership and Staff
    • Trustees
    • Careers
    • Digital Archives
  • Give
    • Donate Now
    • Become a PEN America Young Patron
    • More Ways to Give
    • Shop
  • Home

Unsealed: In Spite of Prison Walls

Blog
By: Leo Paul Carmona, Jess Abolafia | September 21, 2023

In e-messages sent from a Michigan prison, writer Leo Carmona describes the value of finding and losing community between facility transfers. More

Jennifer Baker on Restorative Justice in Young Adult Fiction

Blog
By: Malcolm Tariq | September 21, 2023

Jennifer Baker, author of "Forgive Me Not," speaks with PEN America's "Works of Justice" podcast about how she wrote restorative justice into her young adult novel. More

Unsealed: On That Old Rock Pile Prison Quilt Project

Blog
By: Jess Abolafia, Jeff Elmore | August 18, 2023

In this essay, Jeff Elmore explains his process of making paper collage quilts in prison, which he sends to anyone interested in receiving them. More

Damascus James on Witnessing, Letter Writing, and Solitary Confinement

Blog
By: Malcolm Tariq | June 30, 2023

Damascus James, editor of "TEXAS LETTERS," speaks with PEN America's "Works of Justice" podcast about what he learned from people who are in solitary confinement in Texas prisons. More

Unsealed: An Open Letter from No More Victims Road

Blog
By: Jess Abolafia, Antwann Lamont Johnson, Sr. | May 30, 2023

In this open letter, Antwann Lamont Johnson, Sr. considers if the Department of Corrections actually contributes to harm reduction. More

Unsealed: Lost Lifelines, and the Harmful Effects of Prison Mail Scanning

Blog
By: Jess Abolafia | April 19, 2023

Jess Abolafia discusses the challenges of digitizing mail to and from prison, and why it does more harm than good. More

Unsealed: The Blood and Ink of the Prison Pen

Blog
By: Leo Cardez, Jess Abolafia | March 16, 2023

Leo Cardez reflects on the limited resources available to incarcerated writers by explaining what it's like to use a "prison pen." More

Introducing “Unsealed:” Inside the Letters of PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program

Blog
By: Jess Abolafia | February 16, 2023

Jess Abolafia on the challenges of communication through prison walls via physical, handwritten mail. More

Join PEN America Today

Defend free expression, support persecuted writers, and promote literary culture.

Subscribe

Get updates on events, literary awards, free expression issues, and global news.

 
 
  • What's New
PEN America condemns arrest of Tunisian cartoonist for mocking the Prime Minister
PEN America Speaks: How We Defended and Celebrated Free Expression The Week of September 18
A Disability Activist Is Asked to Change Her Speech By Boston University Her Response: In Future Speaking Contracts, No Changes will be Allowed
Ren Arcamone
Ren Arcamone | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner

Alert Us

Are you an artist at risk or know someone who is?

PEN America
588 Broadway, Suite 303
New York, NY 10012
T (212) 334-1660 F (212) 334-2181
PEN America Los Angeles
1370 N. St Andrews Place
Los Angeles, CA 90028
T (323) 607-1867
PEN America Washington, D.C.
1100 13th Street NW, Suite 800
Washington, D.C. 20005
Donate Today
 
Copyright © 2023 PEN America. All rights reserved.   |   Privacy Policy