Crying to the Limit

Piece of the Week

by Bre’Ann I’m an emotional wreck. Crying is my only good coping skill, not having a mother to cry on or a father I can run to. My sister is gone with the wind. My brother is gone with my freedom. As I stare at my public place of punishment, punishment is my only hope for freedom. Being a highly sophisticated, intelligent, emotionally mature, lonely, and ripped up failure. I see what I have become and it’s not exactly helping my emotions. My mother went to a better place when I was 12 and I got separated from my lovely

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Do The Time, Don’t Let The Time Do You

The Beat Without

by Son Nguyen Our perceptions tend to change as we get older. When I rst got locked up in county jail, everyone pretty much knew I was going to be behind bars for a while because of the crime I committed. Those who had more experience with being in the system advised me to “Do the time, don’t let the time do you.” I took this to mean Man Up and not let the system break me no matter what happens. So when I came to prison with a life sentence I went along with what I was taught. Follow

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Addiction

Piece of the Week

by Chance I as a person have a lot of concerns. I will talk about a couple of them, but keep in mind they are just concerns, not beliefs. I feel like a failure. My anger has removed myself and my family from home to home since I was young, but I fought it and conquered it. But when one big problem goes another takes its place. Drug addiction; right now it feels unbeatable. Every ber of me wants them to make me happy, to nd a purpose. It takes me and wraps its warm arms around me. Now that

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Listen with Your Mind and Spirit

The Beat Without

by Melvin Jones With a correct understanding you will know that what you “feel” and “think” is your greatest opposition is truly… your greatest opportunity. The unpredictable highs and lows of life at times can feel as if you’re riding a roller coaster. Yet, never fear, because at your darkest hour is that magical/mystical moment when everything is primed to see the impossible occur, the miracle happen, and all your perceived doom and gloom be turned completely around. The choice will always remain within us. So, the question is, “What will you decide?” Every time I read from the young

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What Matters

Piece of the Week

by Andrew There isn’t much that I can do when I’m locked up. The system is messed up so if they want to point their ngers at you it’s because they got no one else to blame. We come to realize the things that really matter in life because of all the time we got on our hands, we don’t realize it when we’re out on those streets because of all the mind games people play on us youngsters. And there are all kinds of other distractions just by trying to survive the life we gangbangers choose to take. It’s just

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Trying to Escape, Only to Not Escape

Piece of the Week

by Brianna Instead of confronting my fears of sadness and agony, I tend to run away from them. Most of the time, well the in-between time, I can escape it. Though when I get tired of all the running, I sit back and watch it catch up to me. So I can never say I didn’t see something coming. The escape is always temporary. My form of running is altering my state of mind with drugs to force myself not to have to face all realities of the world and to lift the burden that weighs so heavily on me.

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