Mississippi Prison Writing

The writers in Mississippi Prison Writing share their inner-most thoughts, opening their diaries for readers to witness actual daily life in prison, void of sensationalism and drama. The reflections offer frank meditations on regret, the monotony and isolation of incarceration, the often difficult and layered home lives before prison walls, the journey to self realization. Though these writers are "reduced to living in a cage," their words leap off the page, gifting us with complex human beings fighting to keep spirit and creativity alive in a repressive system. They help us remember what happens on the other side of the wall, and why we should care.

• Non-Fiction

								
To be a Jew is a unique experience in itself. A Jew who finds himself in a Mississippi prison is in for an extraordinary experience, let me tell you.
Jews make up one half of one percent of the world’s population. That is reflected in the prison population, also. I am incarcerated at the Mississippi State Prison at Parchman, Mississippi. For the first twelve years, I never heard of another Jewish convict; kind of amazing with 
a prison population that constantly hovers around 4,000 inmates. But Jews are a peculiar people; when we see trouble, we tend to disappear. 

It’s an inbred trait, I believe. We’ve had a lot of accumulated experiences spread over the centuries.
While Jews live and work among the general population, we are a very distinguishable people. We have our own customs, traditions, and culture that set us, as a people, apart from everyone else. This makes us an easy target. Targeted by whom, you ask? The list is endless it seems at times. I’ll try to write about a few to give you an idea.
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