Second Chance Month Brings New Awareness to Old Issues
Second Chance Month is new, but concerns about job prospects, losing the right to vote, and high recidivism rates for the formerly incarcerated are not.
Injustice at the Indiana Women’s Prison
Medical neglect, food injustice, and mental health woes serve as the creative inspiration for poetry. Plus, how many days of work does it take to buy a bra?
My Name is Meth
Drugs, drug-themed poetry, and more drugs in the American Prison Newspapers collection.
Good, Evil, and Attorneys
A quick look at poetry from a 1972 newspaper published in the Arkansas Cummins Unit prison.
Circumnavigating Censorship through Poetry and Pictures
Prison censorship comes in many forms; its subversion comes in even more.
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.
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.
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.
The Nation of Islam’s Role in US Prisons
The Nation of Islam is controversial. Its practical purposes for incarcerated people transcend both politics and religion.