Prison & Justice Writing
For more than four decades, PEN America’s Prison Writing Program has amplified the writing of thousands of imprisoned writers by providing free resources, skilled mentors, and audiences for their writing. We are proud to share our deepening commitment to confronting our era of mass incarceration with the launch of the PEN America Writing For Justice Fellowship. Read below for more information about our initiatives.
For information on writing programs in prison across the United States, check out our living document database.
Writing for Justice Fellowship
PEN America’s Writing for Justice Fellowship commissions writers—emerging or established—to create written works of lasting merit that illuminate critical issues related to mass incarceration and catalyze public debate. Learn more about the current Fellows »
Prison Writing Program
Founded in 1971, the PEN Prison Writing Program believes in the restorative, rehabilitative and transformative possibilities of writing. We provide hundreds of imprisoned writers across the country with free writing resources, skilled mentors, and audiences for their work. Our program supports free expression, and encourages the use of the written word as a legitimate form of power. We strive towards an increasingly integrative approach, aiming to amplify the voices and writing of imprisoned people to expand beyond the silo of prison, and identity of prisoner.
Download a printable PDF copy of our offerings.
Handbook for Writers in Prison
PEN’s Handbook for Writers in Prison features detailed guides on the art of writing fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and screenplays—an invaluable resource for any writer. Each year, thousands of free copies are sent to incarcerated men and women.
Annual Prison Writing Contest
Every year hundreds of imprisoned writers from around the country submit poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and dramatic works to PEN’s Prison Writing Contest, one of the few outlets of free expression for the country’s incarcerated population.
Mentorship Program
Consisting of more than 250 mentors working with close to 250 incarcerated writers, PEN America’s Prison Writing Mentorships continues to be the most interactive and engaging project in the Prison Writing Program.
The Prison Writing Contest Prizes are sponsored by the generous support of the Greenburger Center for Social & Criminal Justice.
Programming for PEN America’s Prison Writing Program is made possible in part by generous funding from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
Read Award-Winning Works from the PEN Prison Writing Contest
Fireside: or Immaterial Burns
"The leather strained as Tyrone leaned forward to push in the cigarette lighter, and again, when he sat back in the seat." More
My Co-Worker
"My co-worker makes parole. / No goodbyes. Just disappears one day." More
Young Girl Twenty
"The type of chick that young thugs’ll wait on, / and older catz lose they weight on / Modestly fly, sour chicks couldn’t play Dawn" More
All of Us, In Prison
"some prisons, by the night, / will never let you go, / and some prisons, in the light, / will never let you go." More
Confessions of a Penitentiary Death Dealer
"I was 21 years old and the last thing I was interested in was this, the last article I read before tossing the newspaper in my trash." More
Triple Sessions
"I grew up at perhaps the tail end of the “spare the rod, spoil the child” generation, so violence was normalized and mitigated with life lessons." More
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PEN America On 
Fantastic news that @Princeton grad student Xiyue was freed in a prisoner exchange with Iran to reunite with his family after a 3 year ordeal. We must never give up on those unjustly jailed, even by the harshest regimes @PENamerica https://www.princeton.edu/news/2019/12/07/statement-president-eisgruber-release-xiyue-wang?fbclid=IwAR1uSemUnmoQBb8JPa6nHodYoV_f1gUgO9AgEQ_MY0I2oiXY9Tbbxm6imDY
No. This is wrong & @PENamerica will be working ALL of 2020 to push back on gov't efforts to silence critics, chill dissent, criminalize protesters, & limit the beautiful constitutional rights we all have to use our voices to speak out. #freespeech2020 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/us/politics/barr-police.html
