Letters From Inside the Prison

  Grand Hustle By Jay Goodman As I have said before, you will never know who you run into while in prison. There are so many different types of prisoners and personalities living inside these prisons. I personally, have trained myself to be a quiet person overall. I usually go about my day doing my […]

  Simple Solutions By Jay Goodman Here we are in the 21stcentury, and the rest of the country is imputing new technology into their prison systems. This helps prisoners and their family members to stay in touch easier. Other states understand that they can use this modern day technology for their benefit as well. They

  A Light Exploration of Prison Mentality By Mike Powers One of the enjoyable past times of incarcerated citizens is taking pieces of the stale bread we are sometimes served and breaking it up for the birds of the air to enjoy. I toss these pieces outside my window so that I can watch them

  Buenas Nochas, Cocka-Roches By Mike Powers In Texas’ prisons, cockroaches aren’t just a pest — they could very well be your pets. Especially if you live in one of the old “red-bricks”, these disgusting insects are simply going to be a part of your life, whether you like it or not. So, just in

  Crime and Punishment By Mike Powers On this prison journey, I’ve noticed that there are some guards who feel like this job was given to them at the behest of a hangin’ judge just to make sure that every prisoner that guard comes across is personally and thoroughly punished. Thank goodness, this attitude is

  The Real Criminals By Jay Goodman Through my fourteen plus years of incarceration in the Texas prison system, I am still at a loss for words over the prison system and the complete disregard they have for anything or anyone, I am not just talking about the prisoners, but for its employees too. In

  TDCJ Gets Even By Mike Powers In three days, I will have been waiting on my parole answer for four weeks- a whole month. Of course, that’s not fun, but then again, it’s better than NOT waiting on an answer, right? After all, at least I’m “in the process”, and not sitting around killing

  Criminally Insane By Mike Powers There is an interesting side effect to the reticence of Texas juries or judges in declaring anyone to be mentally fit to stand trial, and it is this: Texas prisons aren’t just filled with criminals, they’re also filled with the mentally ill cast-offs of society. Of course, this is

  The Forrest In The Trees By Mike Powers One of the volunteers who comes to the Diboll Unit to minister is a woman who is still on parole from a life sentence. Her desire to come back inside these walls – which I can only imagine must be a powerful emotion every time she

  Shazam! You’re Cured! By Mike Powers Most of my adult life, and because I spent most of my teen years morbidly obese, I’ve suffered with severe arthritis in both of my knees. And I’ve had four corrective surgeries, and even though I need knee replacement surgery, the fine physicians here at UTMB Correctional Managed