Every year, the PEN Prison Writing Program recognizes the work of writers imprisoned throughough the country. Exiled from our schools and society, inmates submit manuscripts in every form to one of the only forums of public expression for incarcerated writers. Presented below are uncensored writings from this year's Prison Writing Contest winners, as well as one-on-one interviews with some of the most hidden voices in America.

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Prison Eulogies
by Yvette Louisell

The ones who died
never mattered much
except in here
where the stories never end . . .

[More]

An Escape Artist
by Joe Ricky Knight

The Double Edge
by Zachary Redfearne

Hook Island Traveller
by Chris Everly

In June, when the weather inland was fit for travel, I drove with my family to Hook Island, New York in the Hamptons.  [More]

Gulfisland Ferry Road
by Michael Hicks

The Man from Far Away
by William Van Poyck

Check Out Day
by Michael Rothwell

There’s always a way out of prison, any prison, and it can be done right now, today. The authorities can’t stop you. [More]

Species of a Lesser God
by Hector Gallegos

Frontline Reflections of a Drug War Journalist
by Eugene A. Dey

Fighting the Ninja
by Charles P. Norman

Nowadays the showers are scary not from knives but from germs . . . catching those strolling unaware in flip-flops on a slippery stretch, skidding and cartwheeling, splashing onto their backsides into the mire. [More]

Nowhere but Barstow and Prison
by Spoon Jackson

Escape from A Maximum Security Jail
by D. Babb

Metamorphosis
by Jodi L. Serino

How unique we are. We have been created in God’s image. Created to be able to recreate and procreate. But what does this really mean? [More]

Fester
by Eugene Williams

A Felon and His Subconscious
by Paresh Patel

>> Visit the complete 2008 winners archive

LISTEN

Marie Ponsot presents the 2008 Prison Writing Awards

It’s an extraordinary experience to see, once a year, an expression—a direct, uncensored, unfiltered expression—of what it’s like to be one of those inner exiles in our prison system.

A Reading from the Winning Manuscripts

Writing Reality Under the Guard of Corretion

Ernest Rich

They don’t feed (us) much here at Pamlico. We seldom get meat at breakfast. They don’t always serve what is on menu. Eggs and grits. Eggs are not real. Grits are bland. Oatmeal don’t taste like oatmeal. They boil it too long to destroy all the vitamins. [More]

Malachi Ephraim

I awakened today around 5 a.m., in a better mood than usual. Lying on my left side, facing the cell door, I gazed at the prison gray walls and enjoyed the early morning light illuminating the cell block interior. [More]

Richard Parker

I decided I am going to put this booklet in the mail tonight. [More]

The Prison Diary Project is part of a collaborative program between PEN and The Anne Frank Center USA.

Members of the Prison Writing Committee interview the 2008 contest winners.

Hettie Jones & Charles Norman

Although much of my “prison” work is dark and tragic, I’m actually the class clown, and my humor is an important part of who I am. I have to be careful to suppress it in prison, though, for those who rule us are humorless, and easily offended, such tempting targets for mockery . . .[More]

Sarah White & Yvette Louisell

I sit and write in a frenzy, almost always late at night and sometimes so late that I have to write by the light of the hallway. (Lights out is at 11:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri. and 12:30 a.m. Sat. and Sun., but our doors don’t lock here. As long as I’m not bothering my roommate or whatever officer is on duty, I can crack my door open, sit on the floor, and write past lights out.) [More]