An intimate first person non-fiction storytelling experience about incarceration in the United States.
Six years ago, I started this blog.
If I could experience the outside world, where through my pen I break free from the bondage of prison, it would all be worth it, I had thought.
For decades, I have trekked through the desert known as American corrections, where justice is mirage and corruption the only oasis.
I sometimes find myself reflecting back upon events in my life. For reasons I can’t explain, these are events that didn’t impact me nearly as much then as they do now.
There are a handful of times in my life where Death came for me but Fate denied its prize. My family knows about one or two of those times. There are several.
Continue reading “Drowning Hurts Until It Doesn’t by Christopher”
This is an all-encompassing statement, but for today I’d like to specifically focus on the problems within our criminal justice and carceral systems. Michigan has the country’s worst carceral instincts, systems, guidelines and politics in the nation. I’m hoping to shine a light on the shortcomings within these systems and to point out some areas where we took some very serious wrong turns while stressing to everyone the need for some serious change.
Continue reading “Michigan…We’ve Got Problems by Amber Martens”
For years I’ve communicated with prisoners at facilities across the nation often hearing about changes happening within their institutions. About 20 months ago a few Eastern and Western states began adopting body cameras within the institutions to be worn by the custody staff. The public knows these staff as the guards.
I knew this effort would soon come to my state because the narrative of corrections is successfully influenced by a handful of for profit organizations. These organizations have effective lobbying arms, and the end results are state corrections departments spending tax payer money on products that often aren’t needed. There’s an ongoing narrative pushed by these for profit
Continue reading “Body Cameras & Full Body Scanners by Christopher”
Incarceration is difficult, because at the end of the day when you’re lying on your bunk, it’s easy to drift to thought’s of easier and fonder times in life. No matter how you look at it, you are a prisoner by your own actions.