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.
Restorative Justice Now! by Michael McGaughty
While I have had paroles in the past, I did little to honor the privilege of maintaining them. I came into the prison system at the age of nineteen. I am now seventy three. I have only managed to stay out of prison for just three years since June of 1967. To date,...
Redemption: A Quest For A Second Chance by Jason Hicks
I was roughly one of 70,000 fortunate children adopted throughout the United States in 1969 (A notable booming year according to Historical International adoption data). Adding to my good fortune was landing with a set of parents who were both exceptional and...
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...
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...
Audio: Elders by George Mullins
George Mullins is serving a life without parole sentence in Michigan. He is a reflective elder in the prison environment, a father, a community member, and all around kind and generous soul....
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...
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...
Was I Sent to Prison to be Punished, or for Punishment? by Charles Sibert
My name is Charles Sibert Bey. In 1997, I was 18 years old when I took part in a plan to rob and murder the occupants of a drug house in the city of Detroit. My role was to be the gunman. I was a senior in high school and captain of the football team, with an above...
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...
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...
Paintings by Theodora Moss
The Bible states “Your gift will place you in front of great Kings and Queens” Pov. 18:16 First, let me start with a brief history of myself. I've been incarcerated for 32 years and I’m an artist who can work with...