I am enslaved (pursuant to the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States) by commitment to the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC). Prisoners in the FDC are required by state statute and FDC rule (not more than 60 hours per week) to work, but few are compensated for the myriad of jobs performed […]
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Review by Christopher Santiago Columbia, SC The United States imprisons more people than any other country. The problem has been worsened by well meaning reforms and so-called tough-on-crime policies that were based on myths and therefore failed to address the root causes of crime. In her new book, “Prisons Make Us Safer” and 20 Other […]
by Scott PetrieYazoo City, MS How fragile life is on the other side of that window, so close, yet so so far, untouchable, unattainable, father, son, each holding a hand up to the glass that separates each from their loving touch, worlds separated to protect from the unseeable enemy, the virus. (As was seen on […]
by Matt Baker A.K.A. “Doc”Abilene, TX Here in America, we throw things away. We throw away plastic and paper after one use. We throw away people after one mistake. Here at Robertson Unit, I look around me and see a whole “class” of people who have been thrown away by society. We throw them away […]
by David L. CruzSan Luis Obispo, CA Dear Guild Family, First and most importantly, thank you for your time and service to the People. I was filled with pride when I received the Guild Notes (Vol. 44, No. ¾, Fall/Winter 2019) because the organization took note on an issue that I had against the 13th […]
by E. C. Theus-RobertsSterling, CO The Penal Institution is a broken social control mechanism that exacerbates root causes of criminality, perpetuating its necessity and enlargement. The Penal Institution and all its dichotomies must be abolished. Considering this reality it is interesting how many fall victim to “objectification rhetoric.” Violent and nonviolent, drug dealer and addict, […]
Jay Van Story Huntsville, TX Prosecutors who orchestrate the false conviction of the innocent are committing crimes every bit as bad as any they prosecute. They’re not using turns to accomplish their offenses, but something far more dangerous—their immense, unchecked power. Imagine a world without the terrible injustice of innocent men and women being falsely […]
Jason Geray Tehachapi, CA Tell me what poet has made it this far, What poet was made from the dust of a star, What poet holds your attention line by line, What poet was born to shine… For the year 2020, who pictured this, Caged in a cell raising a fist, Power to the people […]
Jose E. Roque Livingston, TX As I sit in my cell so very dark and dreary, Anxious to plead my case to any ear that will hear me A victim of a federal system I once risked my life to defend, Stuck in this prison industrial complex as a fly trapped in a spider’s web […]
