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The Black Sheep
By Miguel Angel ParedesTo read Miguel's previous entry, click hereThis is a subject I have been postponing for a long time. Many times I have been motivated and encouraged to write something to help...
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The Miseducation of The Incarcerated Citizens
By LSD GonzalezThere is no point in romanticizing the issue of the miseducation of incarcerated citizens. Going hack to the beginnings early days of the United States, it was illegal to educate...
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Memoir to Madness – Part Three
By Christian WeaverTo read Part Two, click hereDear Justin:Good Lord, I'm depressed, you haven't written for three months and I'm sick with despair. Melancholic black bile..."A depression so thick you...
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Miguel Angel Paredes
Miguel Angel Paredes was executed by the state of Texas tonight, October 28, 2014, at 6:00 pm. He was a long time contributor to Minutes Before Six and will be greatly missed. Our hearts go out to...
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No Mercy For Dogs Part 16
By Thomas Bartlett WhitakerTo read Part 15, click hereDespite the early hour, the bus to Monterrey was nearly full. At least half of the forty or so passengers were dressed in various uniforms of a...
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Tragedy 2 Trial & Beyond
By John RuzasLife is a saga that we all get to live. Some live it long, and some live it short. Some are fortunate to live it well, while others live it miserably from their first breath to their last....
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The Atrocity of Sunsets: The Death of Childhood in Michigan
By Chris DankovichWhen my great-grandfather Jan (a Slavic John) came to America, it had been five years since he was released from an Italian prisoner-of-war camp. This was World War I, after the...
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The Other Half - Part Two
By Steve BartholomewTo read Part One, click hereCharlie floored it.The cop leapt up onto a shelf of air a foot or more above his own hood. The hollow clatter of clipboard and flashlight bouncing off...
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Power and the Penal System: A transnational comparison of penal strategies...
By Chasity WestThe United States imprisons more individuals per capita than any other country. With a ratio of 751 imprisoned per l00,000, our fervor to incarcerate is only second to Russia. This...
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Happy Holidays From Minutes Before Six
Dear Readers, As 2014 comes to a close, please join us in revisiting the highs and lows of our project over the past year.We congratulate the following Minutes Before Six writers for their outstanding...
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Yeah, We Broke It--But Won’t Buy It!
By Mwandishi MitchellAll of us, at one time or another in our lives have heard the expression, "You break it, you bought it." Picture the scenario of walking into your local Bath, Bed & Beyond and...
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Holidays In The Hole
By Michael LambrixSometime shortly after Thanksgiving in late 1970, when I was ten years old, my father unexpectedly told me that I was to go with him to look for a Christmas tree. I didn’t want to...
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Tangled Up in Blue
By Thomas Bartlett WhitakerPascal's wager is alive and well on Death Watch, I am happy to report. To my count, there are now at least three recently "reborn" (or re-re-reborn, as the case may be)...
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BEGINNING ANEW
Part 1 (of 2): “Quasi-Freedom” by Jeff C.QUASI-FREEDOM Day 1:AFTER GIVING AWAY nearly all of my wonderful stuff, after anxiously paging through the only entertainment in my room (a borrowed art book),...
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The Big House
By Timothy Pauley1980 was a bad year. When it began, I found myself living in a van, which I parked in the lot of the factory where l worked. This provided me with a bathroom and shower at least. My...
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The Other Death Sentence
CondemNation: The Struggle To End Death By IncarcerationWritten by Right to Redemption and submitted by Terrell CarterPennsylvania has over 5,400 men and women condemned to serving life sentences...
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21 Years of Living Dyingly
By Thomas Bartlett WhitakerDeath has two faces: one's own Death, and the death of those weLove. Wisdom looks into the eyes ofEach face and sees what it must.A.C. GraylingIt's around 6 p.m. on New...
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Memoir To Madness Part Four
By Christian WeaverTo read Part Three, click hereJustin:You'd be surprised by how thoroughly you saturate my writing. You're an icon, a symbol, a style and a theme. In, addition to your dominance of...
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Gotta Make 'em Pay!
By Santonio MurffThe spacious back area of the Stringfellow Unit kitchen was humming along with the frenetic energy that was the norm for a Friday. Chicken day! Offenders roamed here and there,...
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Good Grievance, Charlie Brown
By Steve BartholomewThe grievance process was first instituted in Washington State prisons about 35 years ago as a way for prisoners to seek redress that didn't involve hostages. Those were different...
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