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Life Inside

“Life Inside” is a weekly series of first-person essays from people who live or work in the criminal justice system.

We're looking for 1,000- to 1,400-word nonfiction pieces about a personal experience you’ve had with the system. We want slices of life rather than full autobiographies. Focus on telling a good story — one that is vivid, surprising, instructive or enlightening to a reader who may not share your frame of reference.

Our writers include people who are currently or formerly incarcerated and those on probation or parole. We also publish work by people who otherwise interact with or work in the system. This includes family members, crime victims, judges, lawyers, police and corrections officers, prison workers, educators, volunteers, social workers and retirees.

We don’t accept poetry, fiction, op-eds or essays that are not related to criminal justice. We don’t publish claims of innocence, and we don’t provide legal help or publicize advocacy campaigns.

To submit a piece, send us a short note introducing yourself and the piece you want us to publish. You can email it to lifeinside@themarshallproject.org or mail it to us.

Please note that we can’t respond to all the messages we receive. If we choose to work on a piece with you, there will be an editing process. Click here for answers to questions people ask us the most.

Ryan Inzana
Life Inside
Cops Took My Christmas Bike. Now I Give Kids the Freedom To Ride.
For formerly incarcerated activist Dorsey Nunn, the most wonderful time of the year is a holiday bicycle giveaway for kids with parents in prison.
Volunteer Ayanna Elliott-Green, left, All of Us or None cofounder Dorsey Nunn, second from right, and two bike recipients at the organization’s 23rd Annual Community Giveback in 2022.
An illustration shows a Black man with his eyes closed and his fingers over his ears to block out noise. Various uneven red lines are in the background.
Life Inside December 13
For a Prison Transfer 45 Minutes Away, I Spent 12 Days in Hell
From feces on the wall to constant gang calls, LaMarr W. Knox details the horrors of the transit unit at New York’s Green Haven prison.
By LaMarr W. Knox
An illustration shows a person wearing a gray prison uniform standing in a spotlight. The person looks toward the background where four people sit at cafeteria tables in a white silhouette.
Life Inside December 6
I Found My Faith Community in Prison. Then My Facility Closed.
Rashon Venable spent three productive years at New York’s Sullivan Correctional Facility. A surprise shutdown sent the Muslim poet and writer into a tailspin.
By Rashon Venable
An illustration shows a woman who is looking down, being surrounded by transparent hands and waves of various colors.
Life Inside November 22
A Prison Rape Survivor Demands Smart, Safe and Humane Transfers
“I know how a relocation can exacerbate violence,” writes Johanna Mills. “Even when the place you’re leaving is so toxic that you can’t stay there.”
By Johanna Mills
An illustration depicts Bobby Bostic, a Black man wearing glasses, a yellow flannel shirt and a gold watch, speaking into a mic at a podium. There are yellow waves and an orange glow surrounding Bobby in the background.
Life Inside November 15
This Motivational Speaker Faced Down a Tough Crowd: Fellow Lifers
Over 27 years behind bars, Bobby Bostic learned to inspire people in dark places. It all started with the “complete failure” of his first big speech.
By Bobby Bostic
An illustration of a parole board table with two women seated and looking through paperwork while a man in a tie stands as he reads papers in his hands. Images of parole board hearings hang on the walls.
Life Inside November 8
Life Inside, Remixed: A Criminal Justice Reformer Takes on ‘Conveyor Belt Justice’
Carol Shapiro joined the New York parole board to make change. Marathon days, copious paperwork and dysfunctional hearings brought her to tears.
By The Marshall Project
An illustration of a dark-skinned man in an orange jumpsuit carrying a painter’s palette while using a small paintbrush to create a purple comet above him.
Life Inside November 1
Life Inside, Remixed: An Incarcerated Artist Learns to Paint Through the Chaos of Prison
Rafael Rodriguez’s artistic mentor and cellmate, Memo, taught him how to pour his anger and pain into oil painting.
By The Marshall Project
A black-and-white illustration of a man alone in a prison cell with his left leg up on his bed, as light streams in from the windows.
Life Inside October 25
Life Inside, Remixed: Inside the Underground Economy of Solitary Confinement
Here’s how people in “the box” use their ingenuity, collaboration skills and a form of “fishing” to get the goods they need.
By The Marshall Project
An illustration of a pink-colored woman sitting on a chair with her back to the viewer, holding a phone, while her young, bushy-haired son sits across from her, one hand holding a phone to his ear and his other on his face in a distraught pose.
Life Inside October 18
Life Inside, Remixed: The Emotional Toll of Visiting a Son in Jail
Ymilul Bates’ first visit to her son exposed her to cold, distant corrections officers and left her with a question: Did they know her son was loved?
By The Marshall Project
An illustration of a Black man with a goatee and glasses seen from the waist up holding a pile of dirt in his hands from which a plant rises. He is surrounded by flowers and other plants.
Life Inside October 11
Life Inside, Remixed: How I Found Peace in the Prison Garden
Bobby Bostic was only 18 when he was sentenced to 241 years behind bars. To his surprise, weeds, water and soil put the St. Louis native on the path to healing.
By The Marshall Project
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