Resisting Invisibility
Liberation Lit’s blog, dedicated to sharing stories from those the system wants to disappear.
BOOK REVIEW: On “Dark Days: A Memoir” by D. Randall Blythe
Travis John Wolfkill (Iowa State Penitentiary) reviews “Dark Days: A Memoir” by D. Randall Blythe, the lead vocalist of Lamb of God. In “Dark Days,” Blythe reflects on his incarceration at Pankrác Prison in Prague.
BOOK REVIEW: Reflections on “Usual Cruelty: The Complicity of Lawyers in the Criminal Injustice System” by Alec Karakatsanis
Liberation Lit sent Ronald Quiceno, incarcerated at Hutchinson Correctional Facility, a copy of “Usual Cruelty: The Complicity of Lawyers in the Criminal Injustice System: by Alec Karakatsanis. He wrote us this letter to tell us what he thought of the book.
NOTES FROM A JAILHOUSE LAWYER: “Great Expectations” or “The Unfairness of the AEDPA's One Year Time Limit for Collateral Attacks on a Judgment of Conviction”
In the first installment of Notes from a Jailhouse Lawyer, Terry Antalek from Ellsworth Correctional Facility explains the injustice of placing a fixed time limit for filing a federal habeas corpus petition. “Many newly convicted individuals are not even aware that habeas corpus remedies exist,” he writes. “Many attorneys never inform their convicted clients of these remedies. Often it's too late when the prisoner learns of these remedies.”
Branded a Criminal: My Time in Kansas Corrections [Part Two]
I’m Devon Westerfield, a 29-year-old artist from Independence, Kansas. I am currently incarcerated at Lansing Correctional Facility in Lansing, Kansas. It’s been tough for me to endure these living arrangements, and this is only a peek into my experiences with this flawed system that claims to be in place to “correct” criminal behavior. In actuality, I’ve found that so many of us who are incarcerated have been the victims of true criminal behavior perpetrated by a system that claims to help us. I just want to create true change from within these cages and bring about real positive change for those of us in chains. But we can’t do it alone. We need help.
Branded a Criminal: My Time in Kansas Corrections [Part One]
I’m Devon Westerfield, a 29 year old artist from Independence, Kansas. I am currently incarcerated at Lansing Correctional Facility in Lansing, Kansas. For my entire life, I have either been a ward of the state, incarcerated in some sort of facility, or excessively punished and mistreated by the judicial system. Throughout it all, true rehabilitation has never been offered to me.