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We did it! The entire Empowerment Avenue team came to New York City in November to support Rahsaan’s successful marathon run. It was an incredible, joyful day, and we owe a major thank you to all the folks who supported our marathon fundraiser. The money we’ve raised will go toward supplies for writers and artists, a film project and expansion of the successful Writers Development Program. It was great to see how Rahsaan’s accomplishment resonated with so many — he was profiled by Runners World, Outside Magazine and NBC News, among others.
We have so much gratitude as the EA community continues to share impactful, vulnerable, powerful, creative work. Below, check out 23 new stories. We also participated in the Bayview Urban Arts Festival, presenting Work Assignments: Contemporary Systems of Oppression, artwork focused on involuntary servitude. Of course, we’re gearing up for even more next year. Onwards!
Our Latest Work
Kwaneta Harris wrote for Lux Magazine1 about going seven years in solitary confinement without speaking to her three children. The essay is accompanied with powerful photos taken inside the Murray Unit prison by Ariana Gomez. “The hardest part of solitary confinement is that the state wouldn’t even allow me to offer an ear.”
Books are lifelines for those in solitary. But they’re also weaponized by prisons. Kwaneta Harris shares with The Boston Globe2 about being written up for sharing a graphic novel with "radical content."
Extreme weather is pushing Washington’s prisons to the brink. Why not let people go home? Christopher Blackwell and Sarah Sax report for Type's Inside/Out Journalism Project3 in partnership with High Country News4.
Years of Christopher Blackwell’s writing saved in drafts was wiped by Securus Technologies. “With no warning they deleted all drafts of writing. Years of work. Manuscripts. Articles. Everything gone. We’re no longer able to save drafts. Now near impossible to write,” he said. The company says it was a mistake. Vice covered the issue this month, and Blackwell and Ethan Corey wrote about it for The Appeal5. This marked Blackwell’s 100th published piece from prison.
“How many in this group have been shot by a gun?” Christopher Blackwell asked a group. Eight out of 10 participants — including him—raised their hands. For The Trace6 and The Appeal, he covered his participation in a transformative justice group that worked to show perpetrators of violence that they, too, were victims who would need to heal to fulfill their potential.
Jonathan Kirkpatrick’s latest reporting for Filter Mag7 includes these four stories. Fentanyl isn’t being cut into the cocaine supply, and here’s why. Tennessee’s HIV sex offender law discourages testing, not transmission. We’ll know harm reduction is mainstream once Dr. Fauci likes it. And Washington prisons still use drug test kits at center of false-positives lawsuit.
C. Dreams for Filter Mag wrote about how not everyone chooses the “sober dating” life when some among us are on parole. "Abstinence in and of itself can be something that people bond over, but in my case it reflect the state’s values, not mine."
Tony Vick for Solitary Watch8 shared about the heavy pendulum between wanting to be alone and wanting to be with other people, one of the results of spending long bouts in solitary confinement.
And for Filter Mag, Tony Vick wrote about the right to consensual sex—and condoms—in prison. “I figure if I’m going to get fucked by the system, I might as well get paid for it,” one of his sources told him.
Jeremy Busby writes for Freedom of the Press Foundation about retaliation he's faced for reporting behind bars in Texas. "The incarcerated voice is paramount in the world of journalism. Without it, the world in general is left with a significant information void."
Don't miss Felix Sitthivong's latest On the Fence Line column for International Examiner9, which looks at the latest round of censorship from Washington DOC. DOC censors the words “cultural awareness group.”
Sentencing people to die in prison condemns their families, too. Yet as Kunlyna Tauch and Abby Higgins explore for Inquest10, these extreme punishments can also strengthen these bonds, committing families to their loved ones' freedom.
For End Poverty in California11, Tomiekia Johnson writes a first-hand account of unregulated Suboxone distribution inside the Central California Women's Facility. “Instead of preparing them for the real world, too many are hooked on Suboxone, or dealing it to others.”
Darrell Jackson, who is a member of the Writers Development Group at Washington Corrections Center, published "Coming to Terms With a Lifetime in Prison" for the publication Merion West12.
Ray Williams, reporting with a Marvel Cooke Fellowship, details how a Washington State prison closure divided the abolitionist community for Shadowproof13.
Ricardo Ferrell, who just returned home after 42 years in prison, published a piece for Waging Nonviolence14 about how incarcerated people, by sharing about their experiences, are helping at-risk youth avoid prison.
For Rolling Stone15, Tariq MaQbool wrote about the slow-motion death of serving a life sentence: “We’re all too willing to argue about the inhumanity of executions. What about those of us who are still alive?”
A bill to reduce solitary confinement is Washington State stalled, but advocates vow to continue the fight. Kevin Light-Roth wrote about the efforts for Solitary Watch, published in partnership with The Stranger in Seattle.
Carla J. Simmons is a contributor to The Other Almanac, a "a reimagining of The Old Farmer's Almanac." You can buy it here!
Phillip Vance Smith published an op-ed with NC Newsline16 about how TextBehind, North Carolina’s mail scanning system, is both cruel and exploitative.
Thanks to artists Alvin Smith, Corey Arthur, Mark Cádiz, Elizabeth Lozano, Jeffrey Isom and O. Smith for their powerful contributions to Work Assignments: Contemporary Systems of Oppression at the Bayview Urban Arts Festival.
The Only Door I Can Open, our virtual exhibition with Museum of African Diaspora, is still up! If you visit, please post a message for the artists and we’ll send it inside. The artwork is nearly sold out, with just a few pieces left, which you can peruse at our online store.
O. Smith illustrated the Issue 12 cover of Paper Chained Magazine, a free journal for incarcerated people in Australia and New Zealand. Fire!
Inside/Outside Insights
More new press: We were featured in a story written by volunteer Amelia Arvesen for Narrative Initiative about the collective’s origin and continued work to amplify incarcerated artists and writers. “We’re popping up in places you normally don’t hear from us, and we’re reaching new audiences,” said founder Rahsaan Thomas. “This gives us a chance to affect new hearts, new minds.”
Huge congrats to our friend Juan Haines, who was named editor-in-chief of Solitary Watch. This is such a massive accomplishment from behind the walls. As we told SW, "Juan again shows what is possible as a newsroom leader who happens to be incarcerated."
Aaron Kinzer, now home, was interviewed by Welcome to the Jungle to talk about “what comes next after years spent behind bars in the U.S.?”
We are honored to be one of 10 winners of the 2023 J.M.K. Innovation Prize. Here's our founder Rahsaan Thomas talking about the work we do and our plans to expand our impact given this incredible opportunity.
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Lux is a feminist magazine of politics and culture founded in 2021. They publish a print edition three times a year, plus a regular newsletter. They pay 50 cents a word.
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper. The section this story published in, The Emancipator, paid $400.
Type Investigation’s Inside/Out Journalism Project produces rigorous coverage of the criminal legal system from a vantage point not typically represented in mainstream media.
High Country News is a monthly independent magazine based in Paonia, Colorado, that covers environmental, social, and political issues in the Western United States.
The Appeal is a nonprofit news organization dedicated to exposing how the U.S. criminal legal system fails to keep people safe and perpetuates harm. They pay $1 per word.
The Trace is an American non-profit journalism outlet devoted to gun-related news in the United States.
Filter’s mission is to advocate through journalism for rational and compassionate approaches to drug use, drug policy, and human rights. They pay $300 per essay.
Solitary Watch is a premier source of news and information on solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails. They pay $250 for their Voices from Solitary section.
International Examiner is the oldest and largest nonprofit, pan-Asian Pacific American publication in the Northwest. They pay $100 for an opinion piece.
Inquest is a forum for advancing bold ideas to end mass incarceration in the United States. They pay $250 for an article.
End Poverty in California aims to end poverty in California by elevating the voices of people experiencing it, creating and implementing bold policies rooted in their needs, and advancing a state agenda focused on equal opportunity for all. They pay $300 for an essay.
Merion West is an online magazine that publishes commentary, in-depth interviews and book reviews from across the political spectrum.
Shadowproof is a reader-supported press organization devoted to exposing abuses of power in government and business. Their Marvel Cooke Fellowship was launched to fund reporting from writers of color on the prison abolition movement.
Waging Nonviolence is a non-profit media platform dedicated to providing original reporting and expert analysis of social movements around the world. They pay $100-$150 for essays.
Rolling Stone is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture.
NC Newsline is a Raleigh-based nonpartisan, nonprofit newsroom; they do not pay for op-eds.