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If you are working on an APWA-related project, please let us know how you plan to utilize the Archive. We hope to share information about your work with our readers and, whenever possible, with relevant APWA authors.

The APWA is an open access archive. We encourage use of the writings for research, course planning, and projects engaged in examination of the criminal legal system. Reproduction of essays in their entirety infringes on author copyright without their explicit consent from the writers. Please contact us if you plan to reproduce entire essays; we will do our best to put you in contact with the authors for consent, and their compensation for any project that is profit making.

*At this point in the Archive’s growth, it’s important to revisit actions taken to protect privacy when the APWA had fewer resources. For this reason, we are temporarily pulling all essays and poetry under pseudonyms and anonymity to quality check and ensure all identity protecting redactions have been thoroughly applied. The privacy of the writers in the APWA is a top priority, and so is displaying their writing as they wish it to be displayed. We will restore all pieces as soon as we can confirm the highest quality privacy protections.

Help using the APWA search.

Wildcard Operators

The * operator replaces zero or more characters, so searching for w*ess would match “wilderness”, “witness”, “WordPress” and also “wess”.

The ? operator matches exactly one character, so searching for gr?y would match “grey” or “gray”, but not “gravy” or “groovy”.

Boolean Searches

Relevanssi uses + and – for the operators: cats -dogs and cats +kittens.

If you prefer instead to use the verbal AND and NOT operators, those can be used too.

Phrase Searches

Put phrase in quotation marks, e.g., “just as complicit”.

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Freedom from the cave
circa 2023

Freedom from the cave

 Freedom from the Cave Pluto and Betts imagine the liberatory potential of education as the beginning of an awakening or transformation. They both tell of how exposure to “light”, which is often associated with knowledge,...
Russell, J. S.Maryland
Education in prisons
August 12, 2022

Education in prisons

 The American Prison Writing Archive Hamilton College; 198 College Hill Road Clinton, NY 13323 - 1218 August 12, 2022 RE: Education In Prisons Dear The Editors, How are you! I've been incarcerated since the year...
Vaskanyan, ArtemMassachusetts
Convict chronicles: Brag book
circa 2022

Convict chronicles: Brag book

 CONVICT CHRONICLES: brag book Leo Cardez At age 40, I felt like a total loser. I was dealing with a litany of mental and physical complications due to a life suffering from deep depression and...
Cardez, LeoIllinois
Convict chronicles: Mr. Crew Cut
circa 2022

Convict chronicles: Mr. Crew Cut
Cardez, LeoIllinois
C e nsor ship
August 2, 2021

C e nsor ship

 Matthew Feeney 22 Lines C e nsor ship [letters "C" and "nsor" struck through] As an incarcerated writer in order to correspond with my writing mentor I have to work through our prison’s ********* department....
Feeney, Matthew D.Minnesota
Prison playwrights
October 3, 2019

Prison playwrights

 Waupun Correctional Institution Tom Kropp [ID] Po box 351 Waupun, WI 53963 Prison Playwrights By Tom Kropp I discovered a magazine called Writer's Digest while in prison. It intrigued me and I subscribed. That's how...
Kropp, TomWisconsin
Inside words: How to teach writing in prison
August 6, 2018

Inside words: How to teach writing in prison

 INSIDE WORDS INSIDE WORDS: How to Teach Writing in Prison “I died in 1960 from a prison sentence and poetry brought me back to life.” ~—Etheridge Knight 1. Follow the rules of the institution. Before...
Belden, ChrisConnecticut
Children's book helps imprisoned parents
2013

Children's book helps imprisoned parents

 '!)... FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Attn: Editor Topic/ Title: "Children's Book Helps Imprisoned Parents" By: Anthony Tinsman (First published by prisoneducation.com) Being a parent is a tough job. Prison doesn't make that job any easier ....
Tinsman, AnthonyArkansas
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If you are working on an APWA-related project, please let us know how you plan to utilize the Archive. We hope to share information about your work with our readers and, whenever possible, with relevant APWA authors.

APWA is an open access archive. We encourage use of the writings for research, course planning, and projects engaged in examination of the criminal legal system. Reproduction of essays in their entirety infringes on author copyright without their explicit consent from the writers. Please contact us if you plan to reproduce entire essays; we will do our best to put you in contact with the authors for consent, and their compensation for any project that is profit making.

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