Cover story
The Words & Worlds of O. Smith
Protest Poster #47, 2025. Courtesy of O. Smith and Holly Delany Cole. Orlando Smith, known in the art world as O. Smith, has a resounding list of accomplishments. From pieces shown at the Oakland Museum of California to a new solo exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), his work has traveled…
Solitary Confinement is Torture: Impacted Advocates Raise Incarcerated Voices to Oppose CDCr Regulation Changes
In May 2026, CDCr updated its rules for Restricted Housing Units (RHUs), more commonly known as Solitary Confinement: the isolated housing areas within California prisons where people are separated from the general population and face cruel and unusual punishment and torture. CDCr claims that the 2023 reforms drove the increase of violence and drug use,…
Features
Where I Found Freedom: Why I Organize
by John Cannon, LSPC Digital Organizer I didn’t feel free the day I walked out of prison. I remember how overwhelming it was to suddenly have choices after years of someone else making every decision for me. What should I eat? Where should I go? What should I wear? None of those choices mattered as…
A New Way of Life Advances Community-Led Reform Across California
by Christiane Rios, Communications Associate, A New Way of Life Since early 2026, the policy and advocacy teams from A New Way of Life (ANWOL) and All of Us or None (AOUON) Long Beach and Los Angeles chapters have been actively involved in statewide organizing, public education, and legislative advocacy to advance justice-impacted communities. “A…
Continue Reading A New Way of Life Advances Community-Led Reform Across California
news from inside
Artist Spotlight: Nancy Larios
Nancy Larios’s art shines a light on the conditions of elderly women in prison. Through vibrant colored pencil drawings, she depicts the struggles of aging behind bars.
Letter to the Editor: Hot Cell Summer
by Anonymous, CSP-Solano There was an art show held at CSP-Solano in the level III gym, a very nice event held by the warden. Incarcerated people were invited to attend, I was fortunate to attend this event. In the event, I met three wonderful women who were advocating people to join membership with the newspaper…
Art and poetry
Missing Fathers, Missing Systems
by Umar Al Aswad, FCI Seagoville It amazes me howsometimes people blame individualsfor wounds created by earthquakes.when truth is…absence got many fathers too.from low wages.to locked doors.Prison system.Addiction,hopelessness,generations carrying hurt like backpacks,they never learned how to put…
No More Cages: Comix from the Inside
by Angel Garza, Mule Creek State Prison
Hit the Devil
by FROG (Forever Reliant On God) & Ghostwrite Mike Intro | GhostWe masterin the fine art of self dissection… somatic abolitionFirst person narrative, poetry, spoken word… this that trauma talk monologue Verse 1 | FROGSelf-destructive seeds implanted…
Corruption Wears a Tie
by Umar Al Aswad, FCI Seagoville Corruption don’t always wear ski masks.Sometimes it wears cufflinks.Sometimes it walks into meetingswith polished shoes and handshakesthat smell like expensive, tax-payer money cologne.Sometimes it says…“we’re investing in the future”while the school…
