I overcame PTSD after fighting in war, but I had no encounters with other mental illnesses until I helped people in crisis at my prison.

I’ll never forget the first time I went to lockup, a restricted housing unit where you’re sent after being accused of violating rules. The unit was not far from where I typically resided, but the ...

In my New Jersey prison, Christians, Jews and Muslims congregate to worship and read their respective religious texts — as is their constitutional right. But those of us devoted to the teachings of ...

Typically, issues of prison censorship have to do with what is and isn’t allowed into prisons. There are endless stories and studies on the banning of certain books and the major limitations on ...

Just a few days after my article about the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ refusal to provide me and other prisoners with addiction treatment ran in a local paper near United States Penitentiary, McCreary, ...

"I get really frustrated at the treatment of the elderly," writes Amy McBride, 61, who is incarcerated in Pennsylvania. "It’s a long walk to the medical clinic and twice as long as that to the dining ...

This story is a Kite, a special category dedicated to first-person reports that rely heavily on a writer’s first-hand observations and experiences. Read more about why PJP uses this category here.

Next, we were loaded onto a modern white bus with large, tinted windows. It was the size of a touring bus, like those used for musicians and sports teams. The bus was divided into three sections, each ...

Fall 2024: September 9 – December 6, 2024 (10 hours a week, 12 weeks) Deadline for applications: August 9, 2024 About Prison Journalism Project PJP is an independent national nonprofit initiative that ...

In 2022, when I was incarcerated at Willard-Cybulski Correctional Institution in Connecticut, guards told us we could hold a Thanksgiving feast — but only if we funded the celebration through ...

Nothing in prison is soft and cuddly. Prisons are concrete and steel and stocked with hard people doing hard time. Toughness is mandatory, brutality a virtue, as we resist — are forced to resist — the ...

If all of this seems overly fastidious, it is. But it is also used as a measuring stick of another person’s intelligence and social learning abilities. If we can trust you to shit in the accepted ...