The first time I visited my brother on his 21s birthday, he brother already looked different.

"His face was worn, his eyes dim. His hair had grown longer, and his facial hair was messy, unkept — like time had passed without care."

Award-winning student-produced documentary “Hey Hugo” follows the story of an incarcerated man who wants to go home to his family. It will be shown at the Chicago International Film Festival on Oct. 25.
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Reported by Cayla Labgold-Carroll

Where is the Money Going For a Million Dollar Prison Fund?

In prison, we wait in line for everything. But we wait most desperately for the end of our incarceration.

The first time I visited my brother on his 21s birthday, he brother already looked different.

"His face was worn, his eyes dim. His hair had grown longer, and his facial hair was messy, unkept — like time had passed without care."

An Indiana prison allows some residents to raise kittens thanks to a partnership with a cat shelter.

"As I stood at the commode, I thought about all that I’d experienced in the last month: I had been terrified beyond expression, berated, belittled, poked, prodded, weighed, measured and interrogated for hours," writes Mithrellas.

An Idaho prison fund, which receives millions of dollars each year, used to provide things like gym equipment and religious materials. Those days are long gone.

🔴 Saying Goodbye to Those Who Died in Prison

This is an elegant piece to read, an elegant concept to ponder.

The FCC has published its proposal for a new pricing structure, which would effectively gut the historic regulations approved in 2024.

"We are only allowed to own seven pairs [of underwear] in total. In order to exchange your state-allotted pairs for new ones, you must submit to a bunk search and an officer must verify to the property officer that you do not own more than seven pairs."

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Lockdowns Occur Far Too Often in This Federal Prison

"As a society, we are responsible for the development of our youth. If we provided them the care they deserve ... we wouldn't even have to think about putting kids in cages."

Currently reading: Can tiny nonprofit news outlets survive the current financial flux?

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For The Media Co-op, Demetrius Buckley writes about experiencing wildfires from Canada at his Michigan prison.

"June 3, 2025. I can’t breathe. I wake up in an eight-man cube at JCS Correctional Facility in Jackson, Michigan. I pull the air inside my lungs and heave."

mediacoop.ca/node/119308

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Without proper oversight, unregulated inmate management funds become guard and admin salary funds, and library resources are already one of the first budget lines cut in prisons and jails.

"The library used to have around 20 newspaper and magazine subscriptions. Those have dwindled to only six."

"After about two weeks it hit me like a sword strike to the throat: we are all gonna die and that is a simple fact of physical existence. As for me, I’m already on Death Row which puts my death right there in my face."

"In Idaho state prisons, a certain percentage of the cost of every commissary purchase and phone call goes into the inmate management fund," writes Dennis. "...These kinds of funds, common in prisons and jails across the country, are typically used to benefit the welfare of incarcerated people."

This is how I learned the news that she passed away. 😢

A Missed Chance to End the Damage of Unconstitutional Jury Verdicts

"In 2010, my eldest daughter, Danielle Thomas, died in a fatal automobile accident at the age of 25. As a loving dad, I never contemplated my child dying before me. Nor had I imagined the devastation I would feel not being permitted to attend her funeral services."