I did it first.
I was the first inmate to write a recurring newspaper column from behind bars. Late in my six-plus years at York Correctional Institution in Connecticut, an editor christened my essays “Prison Diaries” and started to run them regularly in the online newspaper the New Haven Independent.
In early 2013, I received a letter from the editor saying he could no longer run the column because the newspaper, as a nonprofit entity formed under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code, had to adhere to the mission statement it had filed with the IRS: to cover “hard news” about New Haven only. My columns weren’t hard news, and neither the prison nor my home were in New Haven. Canceled.
Now a Maine inmate is about to be canceled, too. Randall Daluz has been writing a blog from Penobscot County Jail since last year. When he becomes sentenced and transfers to a state prison, a Department of Corrections directive will prevent him from publishing under a byline.
Not only is banning Daluz’s byline unconstitutional, it’s foolish because missives from prison are the best source of information for what needs to change inside our nation’s overstuffed facilities.
I learned this lesson about writing from confinement before Prison Diaries. The sinks in the housing units leaked profusely, and when the water hit the metal drain, a hollow but loud tinkle sounded in every cell. In one of my cells, the noise was so bad that I couldn’t sleep at all.
Another inmate and I wrote a letter to the local newspaper complaining about the noise abuse but also pointing out to local residents that their reservoir was being drained unnecessarily. When the letter ran in November 2011, the locals complained that their water was being wasted.
The night before Thanksgiving, lieutenants accompanied maintenance workers to each cell to fix the leaks. They were furious with me, but the noise pollution and the low-flow in local showers? Canceled.
To write and be published from behind bars always takes an accomplice. I hand-wrote all of my columns and mailed them home to be typed. Daluz, Brian Wood, an inmate in Utah who writes a column, “Behind Bars,” for the Standard Examiner, and Lawrence Dressler, a former New Haven lawyer, who continues Prison Diaries for the Independent from federal custody, all do the same; it takes a village to publish an inmate’s writing.
The reason why so many people are willing to help inmates get their writing through the publishing pipeline is that our words are the only safe portal to look inside. In the United States, except for the MSNBC show “Lockup,” cameras are not allowed into correctional facilities and for good reason. If someone on the outside knows what a prison looks like on the inside or how a prison is designed and constructed, that person can aid a prisoner in escape. The recent escape from New York’s Clinton Correctional Facility has demonstrated that inmates who escape rarely do it on their own.
But double-blind corrections prevents people from seeing what really happens inside prisons: the abuse, the waste and the failed policies. The Department of Justice just settled its federal civil action against the Alabama Department of Corrections in May but the abuses alleged in the Department of Justice’s complaint — sexual assaults, fondling of inmates — went back 20 years.
In Pennsylvania, corrections officers were coercing inmates into fights and competitions called the “retard Olympics” for five years before authorities discovered this misconduct.
Neither Alabama nor Pennsylvania house an inmate who is writing for a newspaper, but imagine what could have been prevented if one had been writing a column. Allowing inmates to write and report what they see prevents having to send in salaried investigators later. The states that do have a newspaper with an inmate column — Connecticut and Utah — are committed to prison reform.
I think most people fear inmate columnists because, usually, prisoner writings seem like one big grumble. Glasses in overcrowded prisons are always half-empty. But a good prison columnist is even-handed in reporting about both their facilities and themselves.
One column I wrote was a salute for a good officer who had passed away. Another one highlighted my own ego problems. Wood’s columns admit he was a liar and a thief when he used drugs. Inmate writings are openings to see everything that happens inside, even changed hearts.
In fact, if Daluz wants to keep his blog, then he should include not only God’s word but also God’s work and let taxpayers know what is happening within, describe some of his experiences and whether prison operations are beneficial or not. Letting prisoners publish from within lets lawmakers and the public know what is working and what is failing.
Chandra Bozelko is the author of the poetry collection “Up the River: An Anthology.” She continues her newspaper column as a blog at prison-diaries.com.