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.
Transformation and Reconciliation by Leo Paul Carmona
I am about to turn 39, and I just marked my 17th year of incarceration. Entering the system at only a month shy of my 22nd birthday, I had no idea what I was in for. There was no way that I could have been prepared for the horrors, anguish and traumas of...
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,...
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...
Things You Can Learn In Prison (But Don’t Have To) by Gene Anderson
The title can mean at least two things. One is that even if you go to prison it doesn’t mean that you will learn anything. The other is that you can (and should) learn many things that prison can teach you without having to go to prison. It’s this last point that...
Harsh Reality by Keith Rappuhn
My name is Keith Rappuhn, and I have spent the last 48 years in a Michigan prison on a sentence of Life Without Parole for beating and stabbing a friend to death after a night of drinking and an argument. That was in 1973, when I was 22 years old. Shortly after...
Inside Prison, What Does Rehabilitation Look Like? by Samuel Ozell Powell
My name is Samuel Ozell Powell, I am 44 years old. I am serving a life without parole sentence, for first-degree murder and assault with intent to murder. I have been incarcerated for 22 years. I was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I die daily in prison,...
Before Prison by August M. Williams
My name is August M. Williams, and I’m giving you, the reader, brief insight on me as a young person. I was born in a middle class homestead, and was blessed enough to experience more joyful moments than sad ones. Both of my parents were in the house until I was...
Proud of the Man I’ve Become by Brandon Marsh
Eighteen years ago, I was sentenced to 32 years in prison for a crime committed at the age of 15. It has been a long, difficult road at times, but I haven't allowed the circumstances of my life to defeat me. I may not have gotten everything right, but I can say...
The Miraculous Season of Christmas by Dennis Vertin
In my hierarchy of favorite holidays, there is not even a close second. My all-time favorite holiday, more favorite than all the other holidays put together with a birthday thrown in on top, is Christmas. I am a true fan of the season. I love shopping for gifts. I...
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...
I Am Ready, So I Fight by Joseph Wright
I came to prison with the mindset that I was never going home. And so, I lost myself in the prison system. If you ask me if I was ready to go home after 2 or 3 years, I would have said yeah. But deep down, I was not! It took me 8 years to change and become a man....
My Rebuild by Jeff Hoaglin
Aggravated, Outraged, Bitter, Empty and Angry. Why? That was the 21-year-old me just sentenced to 25 to 50 years. Heartbroken for what I allowed myself to do. I could only be mad at myself and no one else. I was my own worst enemy. I disappointed my family,...