Please contact Lisa Lavaysse if you would like to purchase the full PDF or a printed copy of this issue.
Continue ReadingSomething You’ve Never Done
by Harry Goodall The main thing I want to do is be a dad. I have two kids, but have missed all of their lives because of a prison sentence. I feel that just because I helped in the creation of my kids does not make me a dad. I’m just a donor. It’s other scenarios that had complicated me being involved in their lives, but I have had to learn to live with that. If I didn’t place myself in prison maybe the restrictions wouldn’t be there. After all, you’re not placed in prison because you’re a good guy. As a result of
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Continue ReadingSharing Our Deepest Scars
by Keith Erickson The scars of my childhood are the very parts of me that so many men like me, incarcerated men, want to keep locked away from the rest of the world around them. The Alternatives to Violence Project Workshops bring out the courage in men that you would never expect to witness within a prison. This weekend was like a whirlwind of emotions and laughter that left many of us crying, yet with the realization that our personal afflictions are so much bigger than just ourselves—they also belong to so many others within and outside of these granite walls.
Continue ReadingNo One
by Marwin I open my eyes, mostly to blink away the tears. My gaze falls upon a pile of a fabric at the end of my bed. Under a thick layer of dust there are multiple patterns and colors. My blankets. They come in and out of focus as I think about my past, the things I’ve done, who I am. If I’m honest with myself, I can see why people say I’m arrogant and selfsh and proud. I can see why people say I’m cold, I’m hard and I’m only interested in winning. Maybe I deserve this. Maybe I
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Please contact Lisa Lavaysse if you would like to purchase the full PDF or a printed copy of this issue.
Continue ReadingYour Life Has Value
by Christian Bost What I’m about to tell you is not a story, but rather a reality of my life. The reality is that I was seventeen years old, tried as an adult, and fighting for my life, praying to God that I wouldn’t have to spend the rest of my life in prison for murder. I grew up in the streets of Los Angeles, CA. I was raised in a household with just my mom and four brothers. My dad wasn’t around because, when I was just three years old, while he was locked up in his cell, his cellie
Continue ReadingSuccess Requirements
by Sergio I believe that in order to succeed I need love from my family and support from my peers and friends. It is very important that I have my freedom, so I will abstain from being sent to correctional facilities. I need an education and I need to work hard in order to be successful. The most important thing I need is to be happy, for I cannot be successful if I am not happy. In order for me to be happy, I need to be with the people I care about and I need to do the things I
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Please contact Lisa Lavaysse if you would like to purchase the full PDF or a printed copy of this issue.
Continue ReadingJuvenile Emancipation
by Brandon Martinez Looking back over this ole life, a young buck adolescent, sitting there in front of a judge quite perplexed of my hearing being conducted for emancipation, often throughout the proceedings I was a bit baffled. As a teen, I lacked the intellectual ability to comprehend the magnitude for his decision to be rendered. Although factors were taken into account by the judge at his discretion, perhaps I should have provided some input, certainly the task was exclusively delegated to him, with such an imperative crucial decision at stake. To not object by advocating on my own volition was
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