JAC recently spoke with Nate Fish, founder of the Brick of Gold Publishing Company. Brick of Gold publishes the art and writing of incarcerated people and offers art, copy, direction, design, video, and print services. Since 2016, they've published three books containing work from incarcerated artists. Words Uncaged, 128-G: Art and Writing from a California …
Category: prison writing
The Stories We Save May Include Our Own
by Matt Malyon I. Birdwatching Late night on Watson Bridge—a span across the Skagit River in Northern Washington—a trumpeter swan flies into a light pole. The pole reverberates with sound. The bird drops onto the highway and stands in the amber light filtering from the large bulb above. No—it reels, dizzy in the vibration …
As the End Comes (a tribute to Alice Walker)
by Mardie Swartz Mardie Swartz has spent 29 years behind bars in Texas. This poem is about the time approaching when she will finally be beyond bars. I remember beginnings – The first time I was molested Sold, abandoned, raped The first drink, snort, shot of Whatever would numb some of the pain. The first …
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Piercing the wall: An invitation through letters on art
Coming soon: The pARTner Project -- a collaboration between PAC and Prisoner Express which will provide an opportunity for artists and individuals with a working interest in the arts to develop friendships with artists in prison through letter correspondence and the exchange of creative works. In her newest blog, Treacy Ziegler reflects on her 8 years of experience directing distance-learning art programs for people in prison, and the relationships developed through this exchange.

“Art kept us sane”: An interview with memoir author Logan Crannell
"Writing grounded me and kept my mind from circling in on itself. Being locked in a concrete cell for twenty-one hours a day, you get consumed by repetitive and irrational thoughts. It's important to get them out of your system, otherwise they eat you alive."