Imagine a huge trunk, filled to the brim and spilling over with stories. Hopes, dreams, sorrows, joys … thousands of stories from prisoners all over the country. That “trunk” is this page. Here we share stories we collect from prisoners every week. It’s how we listen to those for whom we fight the hardest; it’s how prisoners express a part of them that usually isn’t heard. It’s these shared experiences, longings, frustrations, and images that drive and inform every step we take for reform at FAMM.
Dip into this collection and see what you find. And then come back—the collection is a living document, meaning that it will grow and change all the time. We hope 1,000 Stories inspires and informs.
2022
Archive
Many of the submissions below are from the writing prompt, “Write something that begins with the phrase, ‘I remember…’ or ‘I don’t remember…’” This particular prompt yielded some of the most poignant stories of our project to date.
For July and August, we asked for submissions inspired by three prompts: “The Prison Myth I’d Most Like to Dispel,” “My Prison Nickname Story,” and “The Envelope That Made Me Smile.”
- Me, I’m just like you.
- Club Fed
- Two
- In my life before incarceration
- CLUB FED IS DEAD
- Scares Borne by Separation
- My Club Fed Life
- The Book
- A Bird Named Shorty
- Stand up Count 4 and 10
- The coldest I have ever been
- PRISON SONG
- Club fed? More like club dread
- The Expense
- I had a choice to do good
- IN THIS ROOM WHERE THE WALLS GROW COLD
- Sadness Through the Mail
- Drops of Rain
- “Deser-Vations!”
- The Top 10 Differences Between a Men’s Federal Penitentiary and Club Med
- “Be Happy”
- Little Eddie
- CHOW!
- Nicknames
- The Peach Tree
- Twenty Three
- My Prison Nickname
- “PLATINUM WAS THE NAME THAT THEY GAVE ME”
- A Mother’s Love
- The best letter
- The letter that saved my life
- The letter that made me smile
September and October continued with submissions inspired by three prompts: “The Prison Myth I’d Most Like to Dispel,” “My Prison Nickname Story,” and “The Envelope That Made Me Smile.”
- Memories, Don’t Go
- Kicking Again
- Summer Time in Federal Prison
- Exit Search (Funny now but not then)
- Definitely Not “Club Fed”
- Prayer for Pardon
- Prison Education? It’s a Myth
- Chasing the Dark
- Devastation Through Devotion
- Not a Monster
- (PRISON)
- THE LEAST OF THESE
- Funny Story
- You Might Be in Prison If …
- FREEDOM FROM [LIFE] IN PRISON
October and November included more submissions inspired by these three prompts: “The Prison Myth I’d Most Like to Dispel,” “My Prison Nickname Story,” and “The Envelope That Made Me Smile.”
- A Story of Prison Life
- LET NOT MERCY AND TRUTH FORSAKE YOU (PROV 3:3)
- Savage Feud
- A Bunch of Stray Dogs
- So Many Problems
- The Nightmare
- 16 Deaths in 7 Years
- MISCONCEPTION: “INMATES WORK AND GET GOOD MONEY IN THE FEDS”
- Incorrect Perceptions of Federal Prison
- The Devil’s House
- Prison can free you
- The Wind Blows Hard Across the Prison Yard
- COLLATERAL
- Cancer and Prison
- Prison is NOT Club Fed
- My Number One Fear
- Some Short but True Things to Know
- A Funny Break
- Misconception: “If you go to prison you must join a gang.”
December includes submissions inspired by these three prompts: “The Prison Myth I’d Most Like to Dispel,” “My Prison Nickname Story,” and “The Envelope That Made Me Smile.”
- Lesser Than: A Logic Problem
- Who Can I Call?
- Faith in prison
- We Was Just Laughing Together
- America: Land of the Free, Home of the Imprisoned
- How Do You Define a Person?
- “Club Fed”
- Shakedown
- EYES TO SEE
- Tanya Like Tucker
- A Clean Hobby
- HI THERE
- Not Guilty
- Behind These Wires
- Never Let Them Give You a Nickname
- “Down but Not Out” (Time in the SHU/Hole)
- When He Walks Through That Gate
- Silent Beating
- WHAT’S A CLUB FED?
- Letters From Home That Keep Me Going No Matter What
- Finding Family
- Fried Eggs For Mom
- Still Waiting
- My Queen
- Be a Man
- Not a Joke
- The Best Letter I Ever Received Rooted in the First Step Act
- “19 HOURS OF FREEDOM, NO LONGER A THREAT TO SOCIETY”
- Not All Smiles Are Alike
- A Miracle and a Hug
2020 began with reflections that were submitted in response to the writing prompt “The Book That Saved Me,” among others.
- Things Are Strongest When They Are Broken
- No Matter What, Keep Reading!!
- HAPPY SONG
- My Lesson
- How “Outlander” Saves One Woman’s Life … All the Time
- Scared to Be Alone
- THE BOOK THAT KEPT ME GOING
- A Powerful Woman
- If You Are Broken
- Who??
- Books in My Repertoire
- Book Written From Inside
- Finding Something Positive
- MEN, YES I’M TARGETING YOU IT’S FAIR TO SAY
- A Hundred Roses
Many of the submissions below are from the writing prompt, “Write something that begins with the phrase, ‘I remember…’ or ‘I don’t remember…’” This particular prompt yielded some of the most poignant stories of our project to date.
- I Remember: My Son
- Soup, Sara Lee, and Being Yourself
- I Remember: First Visit
- I Remember: That No One Was Nice
- I Don’t Remember: When My Life Was My Own
- Hoping and Praying
- I Remember: Those Snitch Dudes
- I Don’t Remember: How to Love or Trust
- I Remember, I Try to Remember
- I Don’t Remember: Ice Cream
- I Remember Everything but Mostly the Scent of My Mother
- The Book That Kept Me Going – A Story o Hope
- Poetry From the Inside
- I Remember: Being Arrested
- I Don’t Remember: My Mother’s Face