BEYOND BARS: Woe Please! (Poem)

By Damion Wilson-El Cumberland, MD My jumpsuit fit snugly For the thousands of people who’ve worn it Trying to figure out five years was a warning To teach my drug addiction and possession A lesson Two million people Counting on a blessing Hundreds of thousands Waiting on a suggestion Of right Mass souls Incarcerated tight […]

BEYOND BARS: Education Key to Lower Recidivism

By Jeff Isabell-Taylor New Haven, MI Education reduces crime and lowers recidivism, it’s that simple. So why has there been so much resistance to educating prisoners? Money? The view education is a reward? Let me be blunt, this isn’t some bleeding heart, let’s be nice to prisoners kind of article. I completely understand prison is […]

BEYOND BARS: Suggested Reading for Pro Se Representation

By Jeffrey Vincent McGee Buford, GA Dear Fellow Jailhouse Lawyer Members, The purpose of this letter is to confer information about legitimate resource materials and their use. Many incarcerated individuals who have decided to challenge their cases pro se face common obstacles: finding, understanding, and applying legit legal research and reference textbooks (and not just […]

BEYOND BARS: This is Not Legal Advice, in Honor of René Magritte

By Eric Pepke Petersburg, VA I am not an attorney so this cannot be legal advice. I have just learned a few things in the federal penal system. Here are some. 1. Always appeal: I had a gut feeling I should appeal. I used a free jail phone call to leave a message on my […]

BEYOND BARS: A Flicker Becomes a Flame

By Kinetik Justice Amun Bessemer, AL With strength and optimism, I greet the Comrades and salute the Freedom Fighters! It has been a long ride. We have come a long way, yet there is so much work we still must do. I pen this expression with those in mind, who have committed themselves to the […]

BEYOND BARS: 2018 (Poem)

By Cristobal “Cris” Bazan Kenedy, TX Scandal after scandal getting exposed Some men resign and others refuse Spewing forth their beautiful, two-faced prose But in life, win or lose, we all must choose Hate continues to trump the right with might I see no difference with the seperatists Inbreeding will not empower the white So […]

BEYOND BARS: Dallas and Baton Rouge, July 2016 (Poem)

By Gary Hicks Berkeley, CA (for all of the fallen, no questions asked for now) mental disorders a permanent feature of colonial warfare these days of spilt blood consigning terror to verse barely describes it time of clarity malcolm’s chickens home roosting specter of fanon like a boomerang what went around came around from now […]

BEYOND BARS: Liberation from a Racist Bigot Global Body Politic (Poem)

how many times have you attended private & public schools and felt like a fool learning theories of lies & mysteries brainwashed about a defacto history? how many times were you arrested by police criminalized by their confessions when you refused to acquiesce then prosecutors coerce questions with deterrents of the worst when you have […]

BEYOND BARS: Correctional Conceptual Medical Apathy: Is There Any Hope?

William A. Larson Licking, MO Prison healthcare, for the most part, is exemplified by the well-known caveat concerning closing the barn door after the horses have escaped. Due to contractual monetary rest raints, preventative medical care is nonexistent. Much too often, a prisoner’s health care needs are ignored—except to assist the prisoner die. In the […]

BEYOND BARS: The Long View of Prisoners’ Rights Litigation

By Jeremiah Phoenix Dannemora, NY Prisoners’ rights litigation is a challenging area of law to participate in, especially from the inside. In a very real way it’s a direct confrontation between prisoners and keepers of custody. Judicial review of prison conditions developed in part because hard-learned experience showed that ignoring significant issue scan lead to […]