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.
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...
God Forgives by James Legrone
I have been incarcerated for thirty plus years now. However, I sincerely hope, and pray that those who may develop an electrifying curiosity to read my story know that I seriously contemplated not summarizing these tragic events for fear the reader would totally...
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...
Painting A Picture of Regret by Darrell Sharpe
First and foremost, I would like to apologize for the picture I am about to share with you because of what it has done to me, and what it will likely do to you. I searched through my stack of pictures carefully to find one that would vividly illustrate to you the...
Juvenile Freedom by Dre’Maris Jackson
I want to introduce the public and the uninformed to the man known today as Dre’maris Jackson. As a young kid growing up on the eastside of Detroit, Michigan, I fancied after the older/negative guys around my neighborhood, wanting the flashy things in life. So who...
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,...
Listen Up, I’m Coming Home by Frank Duenaz, III
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Frank Duenaz, III. I have been incarcerated since September of 1995. I have received my parole from my life with the possibility of parole. I will leave prison on August 24, 2021—really soon. I will have served almost 26...
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...
Reflecting Back by Sharon Hunter
I was taken from my mother at the age of two, with seven of her 13 children. My father was deceased. I was placed in an orphanage. I lived there from 1968 to 1984. The orphanage was a home and school. It was Bible-based and very strict. The same opportunities in a...
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...
Lost and Found by Raymond L. Carr Jr.
My name Is Raymond L. Carr Jr., and I am an author of several books. It is my hope that we may start a working relationship. Let me start by sharing a little about myself. At one point in my life, I was a totally different person. I had been traumatized many times...
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...