It was a literal jail stay, a moment of research that was both captivating and heart wrenching. The pieces of the stories I took away changed my ideas of justice and authority and lives of inmates forever. It is so simple to see how tiny little faceless people can screw up another human’s entire world.

There are seven pieces of this exploratory, expositional work in progress. You may read this first essay online here.

And because all fiction is fact based, articles abut reform and re-entry are forthcoming her and other places on the web. Thanks to the universe for this suggestion, and character idea. She is going to be a whamma- jamma.

***To donate books to prisons, please check out these programs.

It is something we take for granted- easy access to books, but for these folks, it is their only escape.