Explore Our Voices

Prison walls are erected not only to keep people in, but to prevent those on the outside from seeing the abuses of our carceral system. The inhumanity of what happens behind bars, as is reflected by these first-person accounts, is deliberately hidden from view in faraway prisons surrounded by high walls and double fences of razor wire. Few people other than those who are confined or work in prisons have a full view of how they operate. We’re out to change that.

We Are DC

Personal stories from incarcerated DC residents

Dispatches from Inside

Reports on prison conditions

Reform Debate

Perspectives on social reform

Reform Debate

When Have I Paid My Debts?

chains breaking and free birds that flies away at sunset

Dispatches from Inside

When the Body Becomes a Battleground

An X-ray of the torso of a human body, with the intestines highlighted

Reform Debate

Tough on Crime Means Tough on People

Profile of a man behind jail bars, with words written on his form, including "lonely" and "discarded"

Dispatches from Inside

A Different Kind of Prison Escape

Beams of laser light

Dispatches from Inside

Therapy by Weightlifting

One man, weightlifting training on bench press

Reform Debate

Hate Breeds Hate

Man holding a Palestinian flag in front of the U.S. Capitol building, with the words "Black Lives Matter" in the flag's middle stripe

Dispatches from Inside

'This isn't the BOP. This is Hazelton'

A sign showing a set of written rules inside a circle, with a slash through it

Dispatches from Inside

Ho, Ho, Ho: Holiday Cheer in Prison?

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer behind bars

We Are DC

Poetry Set Me Free

Reform Debate

Don't Join Me in Prison

A street sign saying "Wrong Way"

Dispatches from Inside

Life in Degrees: Lessons Learned Too Late

Bald man with mustache and short beard