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.
Living or Just Alive by James Liptrot
My name is James B. Liptrot, Prison number 144170 Dreams are real...
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...
Imagine Dying Waiting To Be Free by Larry R. Carter
Prison is a kicking. They kick you, and they kick you, and they kick you. If you die behind these walls, they kick you again to make sure you are dead. It is a figurative kicking, but it is a kicking all the same. In 1997, at the age of 44, I was convicted of...
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,...
Hatred, Confusion, Abandonment and Redemption, and Love That Restored Me by Robert Perry-Bey
Ann was in the hospital, getting ready to give birth to her first child. After she had me, on February 28, 1969, she thought about her future because her husband had been unfaithful. Once she was released from the hospital, she went home to pick up some of her...
Inside Prison by A’more D. Bass Bey
Hello, Can I tell you about my prison experience while serving a life sentence? There is a lot that people do not understand about those doing time. I have done a lot of time while fighting hard for well deserved freedom. I have changed so much while doing time. I...
A Dream For Freedom by Mr. Kim Moss
BEFORE PRISON I was a young man growing up in inner-city Detroit, and like any other young man, I had dreams and ambitions of being successful in life. Making my Mom and Dad proud to call me their son. Life was good for me. I grew up in a loving home, raised by my...
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...
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...
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,...
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...