Our Stories
Featured Story
Heather, 29
People ask me why I’m doing life in prison. It was Mother’s day, I beat Alexa down with my fists I had never before fought. The day I screamed her secrets, mourned mine, while I clawed and clutched her into admitting there had been no prenatal pills.
Ruben, 42
Meet Ruben I think it’s great that you guys have created this program. Writing is a healthy form of expression and it gives us the ability to use our time productively. I have been incarcerated since 2007, when I was convicted to a life sentence....
Juan, 29
Meet Juan“Gratitude” I can’t have you always giving me attitude When all I have ever done is give you gratitude I pour it all to you with every letter And yet you never make me feel better There’s no point in me writing all these poems If all you...
Marcus, 29
Meet MarcusIn a moment of reflection, a time of solitude, I figured it out. All my life I was living a lie, a false sense of identity. Trying to be something that I wasn’t, instead of being someone that God intended for me to be. Growing up as a...
Isaiah, 21
Meet Isaiah From observation and the experience on this journey I have learned a very important fact; the Texas prison system does not rehabilitate prisoners, it’s all up to you to make that choice for yourself. I give my grandmother credit for the...
Corey, 48
Meet CoreyComing home from Iraq to a broken home and child neglect, I was unprepared to hear “You can have the kids, I wanna take care of myself! Dealing with PTSD, job loss and wondering how to raise four kids alone, I made mistakes. I wasn’t...
Scott, 61
Meet ScottThe first time I was locked up, I was six. The state had taken me from my mother and made me a ward of the court. Over the following years that first cell would be the state’s repetitive choice of places to deposit me in the interim...
Jeff, 58
Meet Jeff55 days after my 21st birthday, I was convicted of all charges against me, and sentenced to death. The very next morning I was abruptly taken out of jail and transported to San Quentin State Prison, where I was handed over to the warden...
Jeffery, 48
Meet Jeffery... Prison is a necessary evil, but an evil nonetheless. I wanted to grow up too fast. I had children, bought a house, married and divorced by 24. Although my marriage was loveless, the greatest pain I have ever experienced was the...
Tyrone, 48
Meet TyroneThinking of all the good times I had why did everything have to go bad from the top of being happy to the bottom of being sad I started looking for a way to escape the pain I found drugs as my savior and threw my whole life down the...
Kevin, 28
Meet KevinSome of you may and some may not relate to my story. I was born in El Salvador, son of a strong, beautiful immigrant woman. When I was four, she migrated to the US after my father was killed from criminal violence. After a year of my...