Scales of justice

Good, Evil, and Attorneys

A quick look at poetry from a 1972 newspaper published in the Arkansas Cummins Unit prison.
From the cover of Adelante, April 1, 1971

Circumnavigating Censorship through Poetry and Pictures

Prison censorship comes in many forms; its subversion comes in even more.
An illustration of a mechanical watch mechanism

Chronemics and the Nonverbal Language of Time

Through the lens of chronemics, we can examine why time appears to have a different essence at, well, different times.
The cover of Sunfighter, Volume 3, Issue 2

A Poem on Freedom by Ho Chi Minh

Published in Sunfighter in the summer of 1975, "Nothing is More Precious than Freedom..." holds obvious allure for those who are incarcerated.
A hand holding a smartphone with a tumblr logo

How Tumblr Helps Youth Continue to Be Seen And Heard

Tumblr may be obsolete for the first generation or two of Internet users, but Gen Z has taken it on as a platform for representation online.
Shakespeare volumes on a shelf

In Memoriam of the Convict Scholar

An 1899 issue of The Monthly Record reports the death of an acclaimed Shakespearian "convict scholar," who served over 20 years on a life sentence.
Front page of The Kentucky Inter-Prison Press

Featured Poem from the APN Collection: Lonely Nights

A jarring dose of humanity comes with the 1979 poem by Reva Walker at the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women.
A bust of Hesiod, a photograph of Joan Didion, the cover of Didion's book The White Album, and the first page of Hesiod's Work and Days

From Didion to Hesiod: The Center Will Not Hold

Hesiod's poem reminds us that in the end, we must all make sense of our works and days, with the help of—or in spite of—the stories in our heads.
The evolution of a single line from David Walker’s Appeal

Comparing Editions of David Walker’s Abolitionist Appeal

Digitization allows researchers to trace editorial and authorial changes in archival content. Both are central to the study of this famous abolitionist pamphlet.
The 1939 first edition cover of The Grapes of Wrath

Banning The Grapes of Wrath in 1939 California

The Kern County, CA Board of Supervisors got a lesson in the Streisand Effect back in 1939, when they banned The Grapes of Wrath from their libraries and schools.