Stories
Prison is designed to disconnect people from the rest of society. As we listen to their stories, we begin to heal those connections.
Here you will encounter challenging and sometimes difficult language and ideas: Please take care as you explore. We share it all in the spirit of broadening our collective understanding and envisioning a different future.
So Long by Edward T. Walton
I’ve been incarcerated for so long. I spent three years in the juvenile system and was sentenced to two natural life sentences, eight months after my release from juvenile. At 36 years of age, I’ve spent about 21 years of my life incarcerated. However, that’s not...
People Deserve Another Chance by Ashley Smith
My name is Ashley Smith—13 and a half years, July of 2026. Well, I've done every group that's been available to me, but because I'm LD, not a lot's been available until the very end of my sentence. But right now I'm in Jackson College full time for a double...
More Than a Number by Terrance Taylor
Countless times I have sat back and listened to the testimonials told by my fellow prisoners. Stories of how drugs, alcohol, and in general living a street life led to their imprisonment. In the midst of many of these stories the individual would say how they were...
From the Land of the Free to the Land of the Detainee by Antonie L. Scott
Peace, my bunky, is an older guy who is really sick with cancer and has a life sentence. I just told him I will need the light tonight because I need to do some writing. I explained this project to him and asked if he wanted to share anything. To my surprise, he...
The Heart of Forgiveness is Hard by Daniel Teribery
I often wonder what my life would have been like if I had made just one small decision to alter my path away from the destruction and pain that I was going to cause. These words played over and over like a worn-out tape in my mind. For so many years it felt...
Three Poems by Paul Carter
Thoughts From A Man Sentenced As A Boy To Die In Prison 26 Years Later Covid in prison is a death sentence religion makes no difference nor does repentance they simply don’t care The masks we wear are cloth and made by prison factory workers which have been proved...
Living or Just Alive by James Liptrot
My name is James B. Liptrot, Prison number 144170 Dreams are real...
Only In America by Mark Anthony McCloud El
I grew up on the northwest side of Detroit, where, although I lived with my mom, dad, two sisters, and niece, I came from a pretty large family of 12. Six boys and six girls. I believe that my upbringing was typical. My parents preached education first and...
You Live and You Learn by Joei Alexander Jordan
Greetings, My name is Joei Alexander Jordan, but many people know me by my stage name, "Joei Average." I was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on May 16, 1993. My mother struggled with drug abuse until I was 11, and my biological father was incarcerated for the majority...
An Honest Conversation by Torrance Graham
It has been 6,417 days since I have looked into a refrigerator. Allow me to save you the trouble of having to figure out how many years 6,417 days is. It’s 17 years and seven months. I know looking into a refrigerator is something most people do not think about,...
Senseless Crime (Drinking and Driving) by Russell Dunham
I was born June 6, 1976, with both parents having drug and alcohol problems. I never really got a chance to know both of my parents, being that I got tossed around. My mother lost me to my father, and my father gave me to his parents to either raise or give me to...
Before Prison by Shameka Layton
The household I grew up in consisted of myself, and six siblings. Since we lived in a two bedroom house, all the children shared one room, with the boys in one bed and the girls in another. Religion was optional so I chose to attend Catholic Services with my...