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Sanctity
By Terrell CarterHave you ever been in a place where solitude and silence allowed you to see beyond the distractions in life and you end up in a place where new discoveries shape your worldview? Well,...
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Arrest
By Erin GeorgeThese are turbulent times. As the nation grapples with the murder of George Floyd, citizens of all ethnicities and ages are flooding the streets, demanding change, as a coward shivers in...
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My Father's Violin
By Burl N. CorbettEvery evening, my father played his violin by the upright piano in our dining room. The nightly concerts were among my first memories, but I can no longer recall if I listened from my...
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Cap and Gown
By Millard BakerI really loathe the attire I wear. My attire represents the miscreant individual I was. The dark blue pants have “CDCR Prisoner” written on the front pant leg. The light blue shirt has...
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Full Circle
By Isaac SweetOne of the most common conversation starters in this prison is, "What're ya watching tonight?" Lately, my response has been, "Nothing." Sometimes, facial expressions indicate confusion...
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I Don’t Want To…
From Women Who Love Too Much“Whether the alcoholic has been a parent, spouse, child, or friend, their relationship usually causes certain feelings and behavior to develop in the co-alcoholic: low...
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Prisoner of the Mind
By Cletus RiveraThe places we find ourselves imprisoned extend far beyond an actual prison. People all around the globe can be in a toxic relationship, an environment they have no choice to be raised...
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Waking Up on the Wrong Side of the Bed in the ADX Control Unit
By Edgar “G.Bam Shango” Pitts I wake up every morning in an ADX cell on a one-sided bed. As I lay in the bed before I reluctantly get up to prepare myself for the day, my mind is bombarded with all the...
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Carving Out Real Change Head-On
By Jose A. De Anda“Where it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change.” – Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount FalklandAnybody who is content with who he or she is and the direction their life is...
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Costume Party
By Kyla ZiegenhagenThe following, a recap of a celebration a woman's prison in Virginia and the repercussions that followed, is an excerpt from a personal communication shared with the permission of...
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The Webs That Bind Us
We are excited to announce that Minutes Before Six is about to undergo a web redesign and this will be the last post for a couple of weeks until the news web site is ready. We thank you for your...
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The One-Namer
By Thomas Bartlett WhitakerGrade-4 Research Technician George Concord Boole was immersed seven layers deep into a stubbornly problematic n-dimensional Riemannian manifold simulation when some kind of...
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Make Yourself Count
By S.M. SteeleIn early America, people in positions of power enforced corporal punishment to punish people accused of crimes. Corporal punishment involved the brutal acts of cutting off the hands and...
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The Book
By Steve BartholomewIt's mid-June, and while you've been sheltering in place for the past couple of months, I've been placed in shelter. I've been on ad-seg in IMU (Intensive Management Unit) ever...
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The Brief Reign of the “Quarry Queen”
By Burl N. CorbettIn 1971, as the “Swingin’ Sixties” were taking their last at bats, there were still plenty of hippies waiting on the bench to get their cuts. As I drove home from work one summer day,...
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Months Before Six - Part Five
To read Part Four click hereJohn Gardner: January 15th, 2020“What?” asked a bewildered sounding Tracy Beatty when he heard that John Gardner, known to friends as "Steve," was scheduled to be executed...
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A Riot in the Time of the Coronavirus
By Steve BartholomewWhen we first began hearing reports on the news about the coronavirus, no one in here took it seriously. I certainly did not. Why would I? SARS, MERS, H1N1, all these have...
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Staying Sane: How to Stave Off Incarceration's Concomitant Madness
By Tomas Keen1. Wake up at six thirty to the steady metallic beep of your sports watch. Seriously; wake up. Do not simply reset the reminder for another half hour or, even more enticing, shut it off...
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Knowing Bill
By Erin GeorgeI used to think that I knew my father pretty well. After all, we lived together for over two decades, and had seen each other at our best, and our worst. In many ways, I used to consider...
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