The Beat Within

by Unique Bishop, CCWF in Chowchilla, CA I remember when my boyfriend Lee B was shot, we were having problems in our relationship. He started cheating on me. I started cheating on him, and I started wanting to let go of this relationship but I couldn’t because I loved him so much. But I was too afraid to let him know or even show it because I wanted to prove to him he wasn’t hurting me.  I was young and all my young life I lived with so much pride and wanted to be everything but me, because I was

by L. Edward Mays, California State Prison, Los Angeles in Lancaster, CA Racial segregation, routine violence, and controlled chaos filled my sleep, nightmares and sweat. This is the legacy that a correctional facility left me with after I transferred to the historical penal site, leaving the “cushy” San Mateo County Jail behind in 2006. “Fear” is the one word I could use to describe my emotional state during my time.  Everything about the prison scared me: the physical structure, the guards, and the other inmates. The physical structure was large and intimidating. The corridors were narrow, and many people had

by Keith Erickson, Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, CA Last night I called my wife, something I do each and every night before we both turn in for the evening and we went through our extensive prayer list. Just five minutes later while checking the messages on the contact’s list of my inmate issued tablet, I was alarmed by a message left from my wife to call home again, as it was urgent.  I listened to the words of my wife as she cried, “Please sit down, Keith,” and her words pierced right through me as she read the

by Raymond White, Corcoran State Prison in Corcoran, CA The flow of blood has no weightBut contains distilled and rich measureThat streams warm like one hundredRivers of eternity; just think of theBlue sky more higher than the Eiffel TowerIn Paris, more elevated than wingsOf countless flocks of birds heavenlyDistance by flight travelThat drifts along white clouds beyondThe human eyes distinction, I can onlySpeak for what pure nature I trulyFeel and see past hundred mile coveredFresh grass fields, or wolves and deerRunning content across the soiled dirtIn rain forest all these beautiful thingsIn clear sights of journies I haveLived by experience,