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.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Finding My Way by Jason Badgley
There have been many layers to the transformational changes I’ve experienced since being incarcerated. In the beginning I was a broken person, emotionally devastated beyond words. The pain, emptiness, loss, and guilt I struggled with ran deeper than words can...
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...
What is Forty-Five Years of Your Life Worth? by Michael Edgerton
Every day I wake up with a sore and aching back. Bones that feel every bit of eighty years old, and I wonder, how in the world did the Michigan Department of Corrections figure out how to make a mattress made of lava rocks? After 25 years of sleeping on these beds...
A Day in the Life by Cynthia McDonnell
I’m deaf. Nearly 70. Most days are the same: Wake up, take care of hygiene, check JPay, get hot water for a cup of tea. Make my bed, if I haven’t already, wait for medicines. I am in a unique position: I am a mentor in the DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy)...
One Day at a Time by Madge Matthews
While sentenced to life after being wrongfully convicted, all I can think of is getting out of prison. This thought consumes me. I have spent 10 years writing letters, asking for legal help with my case, to no avail. It’s hard to prove your innocence! I cried...
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...