Hello from Samuel and I! (and yay to all you new subscribers, thank you)
Summer is around the corner, and we need some time to sort out what’s next for Prison Chronicles. We figured this was a perfect time to slow things down and keep it light for a while. There’s a lot of things happening behind the scenes that we can’t wait to share with you. For now, expect to see art and poetry from our team inside, volume two of The Undertakers and thoughtful words from Samuel.
If there’s anything we share - that you find a connection to, please reach out. Most of these men are serving life in prison, and your words of encouragement give them purpose.
We hope you have a wonderful Summer,
Samuel & Magida
Here are some things we are enjoying these days:
I had the wonderful opportunity to chat with Tammy Mercure from Sun and Moon Press- Gladiator School documents her partner; Theral Harris’ time from ages thirteen to seventeen incarcerated in Baltimore’s juvenile justice system in the 1990s. Through first-hand narrative, recovered photos, and ephemera, the book exposes the effects of criminalizing youth in a system “designed to break your spirit.”
“5 BLOCK” is a short documentary that follows Jose Flores, a convicted criminal serving a life sentence, who, despite overwhelming challenges and adversity, discovers his inner strength and transforms into a beacon of hope and redemption for himself and others. (Thank you Sunny for the recommendation!)
Claire Tak has a wonderful Substack where she shares stories and experiences with her brother who is “newly” incarcerated. “He's made mistakes and he's serving 19 years… These are his stories, written by me, his older sister.” What I really enjoy about Claire’s writing is that you get to follow the evolution of Claire and her self-discoveries through this journey of trying to reach her brother, and that in itself, is a beautiful journey to follow.
We hope you enjoy some of our recommendations and we’ll see you next week!
…next Sunday we share an audio recording of Samuel reading his poem “Bring Me The Horizon”, which was written while in the SHU at Pelican Bay State Prison.