“They booked me into a cell where there was a paper sign over the toilet saying DON’T DRINK THE WATER.”

“A few flakes continued to fall, and for a moment, I forgot where I was.”

I had a shot at being the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Then I was convicted of murder.

“Even when a parent has been part of a child’s pain, that parent’s love can still be the antidote.”

“I’ve been called a persecutor and a sellout.”

Ten days in a room with 22 other jurors. What could possibly go wrong?

A deluge, terror and a miracle.

And it made me a different person.

And it got a million clicks.

“Down in a wastewater-treatment pit, I kept furiously shoving the black liquid toward the pump, with a squeegee.”

A play-by-play of a police-involved shooting in Ohio.

In 1994, at age 14, Derrick Hardaway took part in the murder of an 11-year-old. The media used the crime to build the myth of the superpredator—and stuck him with a label he’s still trying to shed.

On a special visiting day at Washington Corrections Center, incarcerated men were able to dress up. This seemingly small change made a big difference.

A prisoner’s world becomes even smaller.

Collin County Jail failed to send a bleeding, cramping Lauren Kent to an outside OB-GYN. In a lawsuit, she blames their “cost-containment” strategy.

As a queer teen, Michael Shane Hale found belonging in books. Here’s how he built a place where everyone can read in peace in prison.

“I tell my husband to keep my son in another room, while I put my uniform in a trash bag and take a long shower.”

I once surveyed a plot of land for a future prison. Now I live in one.

Despite coronavirus-related lockdown and a skittish staff, prisoners at California Women’s Facility pulled off a full-fledged memorial service for a beloved long-termer.

Doing time during a pandemic can mean fighting for your turn to wash your body or call your family. Inside one man’s battle with an inaudible loudspeaker, weary guards and a dysfunctional process.

“We took off his wrist restraints and gave him pen and paper. He drew up a storm.”

One ex-inmate’s view of a comfy 6-month stay.

For the best man, a fleeting moment of humanity.

A workplace injury derailed Alfonso Cobb’s progress, but the Arkansas wood factory worker is still holding on to his freedom dreams.

In this new book excerpt, incarcerated rapper Alim “RRome Alone” Braxton describes his early attempts to record vocals over a phone in the dayroom.

Lia McKeown says a California prison refused to adjust her job duties to accommodate her pregnancies. Now she’s suing for discrimination.

Moonlight Pulido believed she was having surgery to remove growths from her uterus. In a brutal bait-and-switch, she was sterilized.

Between a strained relationship with my family and the death of a good friend, I’ve struggled to feel like I’m worth something.

“Everything in that room, and everyone, was shining, just for a moment.”