Shameful Shamefulness

From Taj Mahon-Haft: I am tearfully, ragingly disgusted by what happened recently in Texas. and again in Buffalo. And in a California church the next day. And a Michigan school a few months back. And so on and so forth literally hundreds of times each recent year. I literally live amongst those judged and labeled […]

More Than My Conviction ~ Marlon Johnson

Dear Reader, My name is Marlon Johnson, and I’m so much more than my conviction. I’m a father, a son, and I’m a brother. But in here, now, I’m just inmate 1066348, even as there is so much more to me than what the official court documents read.  I started off my journey raised by […]

More Than My Conviction – Rydell Keith Pettaway

I am a member of society, just like anyone else. Only now I have become a victim of the institutional branding that stigmatizes human beings to be treated like animals, labeling us as unworthy of grace and mercy, seeding the thought that we are all undeserving of compassion. I am a loving father and uncle, […]

More Than My Conviction ~ Jahlil Wiley

Stupid as can be, something I swore I would never do, but I went and did it anyway. A few robberies back to back because, well, I felt like I had no other options. A man is supposed to take care of his kid, and I had no other way I could see to do […]

More Than My Conviction ~ Joshua Coleman

I’ve never been perfect; not even close. Always a work in progress, that’s for sure. But I was finally getting ahead, success built on my sweat and tears after being out on my own in the world since I was old enough to get a job after being kicked out. Now, they stuck this label […]

More Than My Conviction ~ Justice a.k.a Harry A. Traynham

“Sticks & Stones May Break Me, But Your Labels… Can Socially Kill Me!” As you read this, I sit in prison, convicted of first degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, three counts of use of a firearm, and one count of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle. I know that’s a lot to […]