Letters From Inside the Prison

  A MEDICAL ADVENTURE  by Mike Williams   And here’s the second installment of my ongoing saga of incarceration in the TDCJ. I’m really not trying to whine. Really, but this is such a great way to let the reader know the things that are going on in here that no one besides God will […]

  Building Behemoth by Jay Goodman As the 1980’s came to an end, Texas by now, was one of the most violent prson systems in our country. Every day, people were being stabbed or killed. Inmates’ families were calling Huntsville and Austin, demanding answers from elected and governor-appointed officials, but everyone seemed powerless to do

  12 1/2 years in Prison By Mike Powers Francisco Hernandez   I have 12 ½ years in prison in the State of Texas, and as I’m sure everyone will agree, Texas is well—known for their toughness on crime. However, from what I’ve seen, when it comes to what happens IN prison, that toughness seems

  Executing the Innocent By Jay Goodman Every state seems to want to be known for their toughness on crime, and naturally, Texas is no exception to this rule. In fact, Texas takes pride in leading the country in its number of uses of the death penalty,leading the nations  for many years in the annual

  A TRIP TO THE DOCTOR’S OFFICE by Jason McGraw Francisco Hernandez   Most all of us at one time or another are going to experience a trip to the hospital sometime in our lives, and usually these memories leave some unpleasant memories for us. Note, imagine your worst nightmare of a hospital visit and

  Going to Prison Chapter 5 by Jason Chase   Early morning I’m awakend and informed I’m on chain. After what seemed like forever waiting to start a prison sentence experience, up until now, I could only imagine in my head and piece together information given from inmates who have been down before. Even with

  KEEPING IT CLEAN by Mike Powers My job here on the unit is clothing exchanger. What that means is that I work for the laundry department and my specific task is to take dirty clothes and exchange them for clean ones every weekday. I REALLY like my job. It doesn’t take up a lot

  Super Segregation in Prison, by Jay Goodman In this segment, I want to take you into Texas’ High-Security Super Segs. You’ll remember I wrote that the state built these new units to house the gang members and other violent prisoners that were responsible for so much of the bloodshed in the late 80’s and

  Second Class Prisoners by Mike Powers   As I’ve written each one of the essays you’ve read so far, it’s been my goal to present as much relevant and interesting material as possible, but always with the goal of change in mind. Nothing can be done, unless the people with proper authority in our

  SPREADIN’ by Mike Powers   You might have gotten the impression from the writing so far that everything about being locked up in the TDCJ is just plain rotten. Well, it is. Okay, except for maybe this one thing, and it’s a thing which might surprise you. Since I’ve been locked up, I’ve met