Prison Journalism Project

Four volunteers from nearby Princeton University and 55 incarcerated members of Toastmasters International, a public speaking and leadership organization, gathered in the visitor hall of New Jersey State Prison. They came to see Clarence Artis III.

Standing just 5-foot-7, with a medium build, Artis isn’t physically intimidating. But once he starts speaking, he’s a ...

On the “walk,” anyone can chime in, but no one can see you.

The walk is the term people in solitary confinement at Southeast Correctional Center, in Missouri, use to describe the open area around and between our cells, which includes the hallway and dayroom. We speak from our cells behind closed doors. We are locked down for nearly 23 hours a day, so conversations...

Jason Pope couldn’t believe what he saw on his ViaPath prison tablet inside South Carolina’s Kirkland Reception and Evaluation Center in October 2024: Someone had placed $230 worth of fraudulent orders from his prison account. A week later, he lost another $106.

“I woke up one morning, and my money was gone,” he told me in the summer of 2025. 

Throu...

“I can’t do this. I’m sorry, I just can’t,” said R., a learner in the Penn State/Muncy Tutoring Program as she dropped her pencil on the desk. She placed her head in her hands.

Nichol “Nikki” Lee, a math tutor, gently but firmly challenged R.: “What did I tell you? We don’t say ‘I can’t’ here. You can and you will. Let me show you.”

From a few desks away...

Darius Huntington walks back and forth behind a podium situated on the free-throw line of the gym-turned-prison chapel. He preaches so loudly that he doesn’t need the microphone.

“Every man under the sound of my voice,” he booms, “I pray that you know the authority that our Heavenly Father has given you, to overcome all enemies — the enemies of addiction, of loss, ...