By Brianna Engel Hello, Vanguard Incarcerated Press! I have read so many of your inspiring stories, I feel it's time to add mine to the archives. I am a 34-year-old mother of 2, serving a five-year se ...

By D. Razor Babb  Researchers have only begun to examine the psychological effects and pressures of working in the prison environment, but studies reveal that officers suffer from PTSD and depression, ...

By D. Razor Babb I was hidden in a secluded corner of the gym, enjoying the momentary oasis  of solitude detached from the clamor of a crowded yard of around 800. Across the grand expanse of the, for ...

By F. Orlando Wells I've spent a great deal of my life looking at so many negative things about it and reliving some really bad memories which I now realize have impacted how I've chosen to live my li ...

By F. Orlando Wells The philosophy and culture of prison in California is steadily changing, some might say for the better. I am an optimist, so I try to look at things through that lens for the most ...

by Mark Daigre As little as 10 years ago, I firmly believed that in order for me to gain any kind of self-forgiveness, I had to be forgiven. I had harmed so many people and created so much suffering i ...

By Arnold Joyner  I'm old enough to remember when the Black Race were united as Friends. We all were fighting America's Racism to its end. The survival of our Black Race was to win. Today, Blacks kill ...

by Rodzinski Roccardo Allen My name is Rodzinski Roccardo Allen, but most people call me Ricky. I am serving a life sentence for murder, currently incarcerated at Pelican Bay State Prison. At the begi ...

by Armando Ybarra A major portion of my life has been spent behind prison walls because of, not only my poor choices, but also due to the lack of integrity of the justice system in the courthouse I wa ...

by John Quiñones, Jr. The only difference between a dream and a nightmare is fear. When my experience as a lifer in prison began, I was scared every waking moment. My life became a nightmare. The only ...

by Jiles Wallace As I stared into the mirror, an obstacle appeared in front of me, but I recognized the reflection as nothing more than a deception. I was staring into the eyes of a hardened criminal ...

by Al Rice In 2014, I was lucky to be one of 30 chosen to participate in the Incarcerated Student Program provided by Feather River College. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It was a chance ...

By Damon Lloyd My cases together are the keys to squashing qualified & absolute immunity for the corruption that is running wild here in Ohio! Exonerations are not isolated occurrences. Yet, the t ...

by Ernesto Rodríguez Change for a prisoner does not come easily. A prisoner is in prison because most of his life was spent living a destructive lifestyle of gangs, crime, addictions and poverty. The ...

by T. Crow LJC was born in 1990, in the coastal town of New London, Connecticut. The oldest of three, LJC’s parents divorced after the birth of his youngest sister. With a mother no longer in their li ...

by Matt Toerner I committed murder in 2006, at the age of 19, and was subsequently convicted and sentenced to Life without Parole (LWOP). I am now starting my 13th year of incarceration. Some days see ...

by Franklin Lee The metal crossbar slid open with a loud "clank," signaling each of us "fresh fish" to open the metal-barred gates into our personal purgatory. The small, dark, concrete 6 X 9 room hel ...

By Franklin Lee Protective custody for high profile cases, sex offenders, and informants used to mean a death sentence for the incarcerated. The California Department  of Corrections and Rehabilitatio ...

by Garland White My studies in the humanities have taken me on what seems to have been a journey through space and time. It has been a journey filled with awe and excitement, a journey leaving me with ...