ChristopherBlackwell
@ChrisWBlackwell
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Incarcerated Writer & Artist. Tweets dictated over a prison payphone and into the Twittersphere. Co-founder:
Joined March 2020
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Pinned Tweet
Incarcerated for the first time at 12. Dropped out of school at 14. Today I have a byline in the
@nytimes
.
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In prison nothing is free. Not even toothpaste. The cost of hygiene products increased again today. Toothpaste used to be $3.85 and now it's $6.10. That's over 14 hours working a prison job to afford one tube of toothpaste.
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Heard my former prison is now photocopying all mail instead of giving it directly to us. In the 500+ days my wife and I couldn't see each other one of the things that helped was holding her letters in my hand knowing she had touched the same paper. The cruelty really is the point
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There's another covid outbreak on my prison unit. DOC has plenty of N95 masks now, but prisoners will get a disciplinary infraction if they're caught with one. Why? Because N95s also protect us from their tear gas, which they still freely use during a respiratory pandemic.
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I'm an incarcerated journalist. I have no access to computers. The only way I'm able to write is on my prison JPay tablet. Today JPay updated their operating system so that you cannot save drafts to edit or make paragraphs. An intentional change to silence those of us that write
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When my mom was too poor to make the trip to visit me in prison it meant something to hold every holiday card she sent knowing she held it too. Today the prison banned cards and postcards. They make it so hard and humiliating to stay in touch. More and more isolation. For what?
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My new prison unit has a dog training program. We have one dog in the living unit. His name is Evan and he’s a golden retriever. I got to pet him last night. The first time I’ve pet a dog in the 19 years I’ve been down. I forgot how soft and loving dogs are. Evan is the best.
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Incarcerated for the first time at 12. Dropped out of school at 14. Today I have a byline in the
@washingtonpost
Sunday paper.
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The prison won't allow younger prisoners to bring elderly prisoners their meals anymore. This morning I watched men in their 70s, one of whom has a 20lb hernia hanging outside of his body, use their walkers to make the .5 mile walk in the rain just to get food.
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The smoke is so bad at my prison from the wild fires across the state that when I blow my nose it’s black. I can’t imagine what’s it’s like for the thousands of people incarcerated at the prisons right near the fire. You can’t disentangle climate justice and mass incarceration.
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I’m an incarcerated journalist. Today Securus, a predatory prison communication co, silenced journalists. With no warning they deleted all drafts of writing. Years of work. Manuscripts. Articles. Everything gone. We’re no longer able to save drafts. Now near impossible to write.
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The prison has started to photocopy all mail. I miss holding mail that I know my loved ones also held. That little bit of humanity in this awful place. Now gone.
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Incarcerated people are casualties of climate change. Record breaking heat in the Pacific Northwest with highs up to 115°F. No air conditioning in our living units. People are just cooking in their cells with no reprieve.
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Did you know incarcerated people have to pay almost 10% of our monthly wages to get just one appointment with medical? And it's almost impossible to get necessary testing like MRIs, CTScans, etc. Cancer often goes undetected. Medical care inside & outside in the US is a mess!
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My friend Sid is dead. He was in his 70s and caught covid b/c medical returned a sick prisoner to the living unit. He was Native and a Vietnam vet. Sid loved to cook. He’d take what little money he earned at his prison job, buy a bunch of store and cook for us all. RIP, friend.
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Another person died by suicide at my prison this week. My neighbor down the hall. He was always tutoring guys in the college program. They moved him to solitary "for his own protection" and he took his own life during that torture. The second suicide here in the last few months.
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My friend got out of prison after 27 years. One week later he was diagnosed with colon cancer. The doctor asked him about his diet. Almost all you get in prison is processed foods. Doctor said that's likely the cause. For many the food + lack of medical care is a death sentence.
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Our prison has no ventilation or AC (most don’t). Now there’s wildfires on top of a heatwave. It’s either open the windows and breath in the smoke. Or keep the windows closed and broil in the stagnant heat. Climate change and mass incarceration collide!
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I pay more in 1 month to talk to my family from prison than Trump paid in taxes for an entire year.
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People in prisons haven't hugged their loved ones since March 2020. 438 days and counting without a hug. While people on the outside start to go back to their lives, there's no end in sight for us--especially with vaccine hesitancy and the potential emergence of new variants.
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Prices in the prison commissary went up again. They’ve gone up 4 times in 5 months. Some things have almost tripled. Pay has been $.55/hour for decades. I don’t know how prisoners with no outside support can do it anymore. Nothing in prison is free.
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I’ve been incarcerated since 2003 and have never used the internet. I’ve published over 75 articles in places like the NYT and Washington Post. It’s all been done on a 7 inch prison tablet with no copy and paste function. My thumbs are tired.
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Did you know nothing in prison is free? Not even basic hygiene items like a bar of soap. If you can't afford basic items you will accrue debt. Perpetuating cycles of poverty that are part of the reason many people end up in prison in the first place.
#EverydayPrisonFacts
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In jail they starve people. You have to supplement with commissary. But a pack of Ramen that costs $6.50 in the free world costs $26 in jail. An impossible amount for most people.
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Evan, the dog in my prison, has finally graduated as a service dog and will be going to his new home next week. It’s bitter sweet around here as everyone says their goodbyes. Some of us hadn’t gotten to pet a dog in decades. But we know Evan will do so much good on the outside.
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The raven who comes to my prison window everyday must be prepping for babies. He’s here asking for snacks at the bars way more than usual. Can’t wait for him to bring his babies to see me like last year. Life is much better with a window after spending a decade without one.
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Started my new job at the prison worm farm tending to the chickens. I discovered there was a hen stuck in solitary b/c she allegedly didn't get along with the others. Freed her and implemented a no solitary policy. In this coop we do restorative justice not oppression!
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Having a window in my cell for the first time in a decade has turned me into an avid bird watcher. It's nice that some of the trauma responses I've developed due to being incarcerated over half my life--like being hyper vigilant of my surroundings--also make me good at birding.
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I’ve befriended a Raven who comes to my prison cell window every day for snacks. His name is Chubs. He responds to my calls and brings his babies to say hello every so often. I spent almost a decade without a cell window. It’s nice to be able to have these small interactions.
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I want to write about what it’s like to weather this heatwave in a prison with no AC packed in with hundreds of other people like sardines. But it’s so hot, my brain can’t even write.
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I'm starting a mentorship program for incarcerated writers. There are so many talented people who don't have the phone money, stamp money, or resources to buy thesaurus & dictionaries--so their voices don't get heard. We want to change that. Can you help?
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At 26 year old guy killed himself at my prison yesterday. He had less than a year before his release date. He was stuck in the special hell hole that is prison receiving units under continued covid protocols. No visits, no programs, nothing. Just languishing & torture.
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After 531 days I was finally able to hug my wife at visit. To hold her hand. It's hard to explain what being touched starved does to you. What it's like to have pat downs & searches be your primary form of contact. It's been a long 18 months. Feels like a weight has been lifted.
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One of my favorite things about birdwatching from prison is witnessing how unfazed the birds are by the hostile prison infrastructure. They go right through chain fences. Land on top of barbed wire. Fly right over the towering walls. So graceful and free.
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The first time I experienced solitary confinement I was 12. They stripped me to my boxers and threw me in the hole. Today, almost 30 years later, I testified from prison in front of the Washington Legislature about the harms of solitary. It's time to ban this torturous practice.
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Every year an unprecedented heatwave hits. Every year prisoners recount to reporters what it's like to be trapped in an unventilated crowded concrete box. Every year people promise to do something. But here we are again at the intersection of climate change & mass incarceration.
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Putting us in solitary confinement but calling it "medical isolation" does not change the fact it's solitary confinement. I can hear the prisoners on the adjacent unit screaming and pleading with the guards. How is this for our health and safety?
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I transferred prisons. For the first time in almost 10 years I was briefly outside the walls. Shackled inside of a bus. But I got to see trees, cars, houses, people. Everything. It's all so different. Makes the weight of being back inside the walls even heavier.
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Prison email systems are not free. It costs $10 + an almost $4 additional "fee" (the fee is 40% of the underlying cost!) to buy 60 stamps. Longer email? Extra stamp! Attach a picture? Extra stamp! With prison wages you have to work half an hour just to send one message.
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People think prisons are full of hardened violent people. It's not true. Today I walked through the dayroom where guys were watching The Price is Right, knitting blankets, and doing homework. Prison is filled with hurt people who hurt people who are now trying to find their way.
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Like outside, inflation is happening in prisons and our wages haven’t changed in 30+ years. Commissary is up 15 to 30%. It costs $11 for a bag of freeze dried coffee. That’s over 25 hours of work inside prison to buy one bag of coffee. 16 hours of labor to buy a bottle of shampoo
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People might be surprised to know how much Dungeons and Dragons is played in prisons. Every day room I’ve ever been in in the last 19 years always has a little huddle of D&D nerds yelling about whose goblin ate whose fairy or something.
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Today a baby crow came to my cell window. His parents are trying to encourage him to eat on his own. But you can tell the baby still likes it when his mom puts the food in his mouth. I cherish these little joys of nature after being in a windowless cell for so long.
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It’s been almost 20 years since I’ve pet a dog. The only dogs we have in my prison are the drug sniffing kind. I did, however, get to meet mine and my wife’s new dog, Herman, over a video visit. Ladies and gentleman, my son.
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There is so much talent wasted behind these bars. All we need is a chance to use it. Thank you
@Jamie_Beth_S
and the other folks at Empowerment Avenue
@EmilyNonko
for giving people like me that chance.
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Prison food has gotten so bad lately that there’s a pants shitting epidemic on our tier. The laundry workers are (understandably) up in arms about how often they’re now getting shit filled underwear in laundry bags. Been down for almost 20 years and never seen anything like it.
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In prison we only get plastic utensils and plastic dishes. It’s been 19 years since I’ve heard and felt silverware on ceramic. There are a thousand little things you forget.
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For the first time in a long time I have a small window in my cell. I've been feeding the little birds and crows out of my window. The little birds trust me already. They'll come up while my hand is out. The crows are still feeling me out. But day by day they're trusting me more.
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Myself and 12 other prisoners who tested negative on my unit are being taken to solitary confinement indefinitely. I was able to make one call to notify my family. I do not know when I will be able to communicate again.
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Being cut off from nature in prison is a dehumanizing experience. Our environment is mostly barbed wire and concrete. Hostile and unnatural. When a family of barn swallows set up a nest in our prison rafters, it brought some humanity to this dark place.
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As a kid in solitary confinement I used to eat toiletpaper to try and stave off the hunger from them starving me. All of us kids in the hole did. Incarcerating children does not help them. It just perpetuates cycles of violence.
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My cellie in county jail was an autistic kid who had been there for six months without ever seeing his lawyer or getting a mental health assessment. That’s how we’re treating people in need who haven’t even been convicted of a crime. It’s worse than it was 20 years ago.
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There’s an old man on my prison unit, been down since 1974. He’s the keeper of the house plants and the only one whose allowed plants in his cell. They’re the healthiest plants I’ve ever seen. He said the key is love and bringing the plants out to socialize every Tuesday.
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We have no clean drinking water. No new masks since the 28th. No clean laundry. 30 minutes out in the last three days for showers and phones. We have not been not given any information. Over 2/3 of my prison tier has been taken to solitary for medical isolation.
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An impromptu xmas decorating competition has emerged on the prison cellblock. Cells with popcorn garlands, paper snowflakes, stockings, and even a fake fireplace made with a box, red construction paper, a light, and fan. Been down 18 yrs and never seen the xmas spirit like this!
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You can find tenderness in prison. When it's someone's birthday, when someone dies in their family, when someone get their GED, the artists on the tier will step up with a hand drawn card and everyone will sign. So many people inside have no one, we have to support each other.
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Two separate people on my unit lost their appeal cases b/c the prison didn’t give them their legal mail. The courts work on strict deadlines and will close a case if you don’t reply on time. Makes prisoners, who often represent themselves, totally at the mercy of the mailroom.
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Thank you all! After the attention
@JPay_com
claims the deletion of drafts was unintentional & they’ll restore. Still unable to make paragraphs & the text appears all in one line--making it near impossible to edit. Are those impediments to writing unintentional too?
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Did you know we can't receive crayon and marker drawings in prison? They claim that's how drugs come in... This means people aren't able to get the pictures their kids draw for them.
#EverydayPrisonFacts
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Been in prison for 19 years and this is the first time I’ve ever seen prisoners dress up. Got one guy in here dressed as Steve Urkel and another guy as an Aztec Warrior. Happy Halloween!
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Got to see my byline in the Sunday edition of the New York Times. It’s wild to think I was incarcerated for the first time at 12 and dropped out of school at 14.
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Snook is the Scrabble master of our prison. He’s been locked up since 1977. No one can beat him. He took me under his wing recently when he heard I’d never won a game against my wife. Came to my cell this morning with a print out of all the two letter words.
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Did you know people in prisons don’t get to experience a diversity of textures? Especially soft textures. Our blankets and clothes are stiff & scratchy. It wasn't until my wife wore a cashmere sweater to visit that I realized just how long it'd been since I'd felt soft fabric.
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Did you know companies like JPay charge a $13 fee just to put money on a prisoner's books? That means if you're sending in $50 it'll cost you $63. Need to use a credit card b/c you don't have the money? $10 extra. A $23 charge just to send $50 inside so they can buy essentials.
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Suddenly it's' $4.41 in fees to buy $10 worth of email stamps. Prison emails require you to purchase a $.24 stamp per email with extra stamps if the email is long or has pictures. So that's $14.41 in total to buy 60 stamps. Almost an hour of prison labor to send one email.
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After years of not having restorative justice programing at my prison, they've finally reopened a class. Only now you have to get fully strip searched each and every class. I'm not sure how restorative being sexually violated is, but here we are.
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Just achieved my 50th publication in less than 2 years! Growing up I was told I'd achieve very little, especially after being incarcerated at 12. People couldn't have been more wrong. All I needed was a little water to grow. That's all most people need.
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The big debate in the prison dayroom this evening was Taylor Swift's height. My cellmate, a self-proclaimed "Swiftie," insisted she was at least 6ft. A few of the other prison Swifties disagreed. A bet ensued. My cellie lost.
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Before covid visits were 3 days a week 8 hours a day. Now the prison says visits will permanently be 3 visits a month 3 hours a visit. From 96 visiting hours a month to 9. On the outside it’s back to normal. But in prison covid has become an excuse to further restrict and punish.
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I’ve spent the majority of my life incarcerated, but not even that prepared me for the horror & exploitation I saw on a recent trip to county jail. Thank you
@nytopinion
for publishing my piece & uplifting the voices of those most impacted by incarceration
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Prison visits are still restricted because of covid. Corporations like
@SecurusTech
@JPay_com
are raking in the profits charging poor families $8 a pop for a grainy 30 min video visit that doesn't work half the time. The system is set up to extract profit from impoverished people
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When you think about prison, do you think about tenderness, caring, and connections? They’re not common, but they’re here. A bunch of bunnies showed up on the yard and stole all of our hearts. I wrote about it for
@HuffPost
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The 19 year-old kid I work with at the chicken coop came to my cell this morning to proudly display the results of his GED. He passed! A good reminder that despite the oppression and difficulties, people behind these walls are fighting tooth and nail to better themselves.
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My prison was on quarantine for a longtime, so I wasn't able to get outside to check on the chickens I care for. We're finally off and I'm happy to report that Little Red, the chicken I freed from solitary, is integrated and doing well! She was happy to see me to get her treats!
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What’s it like to wake up to wildfire smoke knowing you’re trapped in an inescapable tinderbox that is a prison? At the nexus of the climate crisis and mass incarceration, my latest for
@thenation
As the smoky air fills our lungs, one question lingers: If we get caught in the path of raging flames, what will be the plan for those of us locked behind bars?
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Growing up I believed I was dumb. I dropped out at 14. Earning a college degree in prison taught me that anything is possible when you show someone how to love themselves, through accountability, vulnerability and education. My latest for
@MarshallProj
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This year we are doing Secret Santa on my prison tier. A couple of the guys got creative and sewed makeshift Santa hats. Some guys put up decorations in their cells, despite the risk of having their work trashed during a cell search. Holidays are hard but we hold each other up.
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I spent ten years in a cell without a window. Now I have a cell window and it's been such a gift. Through the window I befriended a giant raven named Chubs. Chubs responds when I call for him and comes to my window everyday for treats. He's brought so much joy to the prison.
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At my prison many jobs pay only .$42/hour. A phone call costs $1.43--3.5 hours to cover the cost of that call. A 3-ounce bag of freeze-dried coffee is $3.34, or 8 hours of work. A tube of Colgate Sensitive toothpaste is $6.10—more than 14.5 hours of work.
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Us prisoners have noticed an inverse correlation between Norway model rhetoric and our actual experiences. The more politicians travel to Norway and brag about “humane” prisons, the harsher conditions are for us inside. Been down 20 years and in some ways it’s worse than ever.
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2 yrs ago my prison went on lockdown after a guard tested positive. With one of my few calls, I had my wife setup a Twitter for me to dictate from the phone what was going on inside the walls. I've still never actually used the internet myself. What a trip.
#MyTwitterAnniversary
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Some of surviving prison is being grateful for the little things. Like the return of photos during visits and playing dominos with my wife (we tied).
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I spent many years incarcerated as a child starting at the age of 12. Through healing work, I now recognize the sexual trauma of being strip searched by grown male guards and having them watch your genitals while you pee for urine tests. It’s not security, it’s sexual abuse.
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Today marks 1 year without visits. An entire year without human touch (not counting pat search). When I close my eyes, I can feel what it’s like to hold my wife, to hug my mother. When I open them, the reality hits. I have no idea when that will ever happen again.
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I have a new job at the prison garment factory operating an industrial sewing machine for 7 hours a day for less than $1/hour. It’s exhausting and gets in the way of my actual career as a journalist. If I quit the factory job to focus on writing, I’ll get a major infraction.
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Published my 100th piece from prison today. I dropped out of school at 14. Back then I couldn’t have imagined this accomplishment. Fittingly, the piece is about the challenges of writing from prison and having 100s of hours of work deleted in an instant .
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My wife and I often spend more on prison phone calls than we do on rent--especially since covid shut down visits. We've only been able to see each other 5 times in the last 2 years. Calls are all we have. Thank you
@KatrinaNation
for this article!
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Really excited and honored to have won Journalist of the Year!
🎖️We are excited to share the winners of the Stillwater Awards. The Stillwater Awards are a joint effort between SPJ and PJP, a non-profit organization that trains and publishes the work of incarcerated journalists.
Check out a full list of the winners:
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There’s a new dog in my prison unit. His name is Doc (not to be confused with the Department of Corrections) and he’s a bull mastiff that weighs 250lbs. He’s got two full grown men cellies, so it’s a bit crammed in the cell. But he brings a lot of joy to this sad prison tier.
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Don't be a "voice for the voiceless" (we've got voices, y'all). Instead, come to the
@scalawagmag
workshop on Dec 2nd and learn how to work with incarcerated writers. I'll be speaking on the line. Plus, checkout the new guidebook. Register in the link.
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Wayne DuBois, a leader in the Black Prisoners Caucus, is home after nearly a decade of incarceration. He is a restorative justice facilitator who will continue to do anti-violence work in the community. Please show Wayne some love if you can!
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Three years ago via conversations on prison yards & living units, a critical mass of us realized we're serving years longer on our sentences because we'd been cycled through the juvenile system. Most of us came from the same impoverished communities. We set out to pass a bill. 1/
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Grateful to be off quarantine and back to visits. We still only get three a month because of COVID. On the bright side, that means my wife only gets to whoop my ass at Scrabble three times a month. Though they don’t allow dictionaries in the visit room, so she could be cheating.
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In prison we have to wear masks. Up until my latest article went to fact checking, we were only given 1 mask in 3 months. We have since received 3 more disposable masks. Thank you
@JewishCurrents
for publishing incarcerated journalists & shedding light
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Did you know we do a lot of MacGyver cooking here in prison? My cellie made pozole using corn nuts instead of hominy. We also make tamales by grinding up tortilla chips for makeshift masa. People inside cook and share meals with each other as way of showing care.
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Everyone can now call me Mr. Dr. Chelsea Moore! My extradorinaiy wife received her PhD today, and I couldn't be more proud. She is the raddest human I have ever met! ❣️
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Just witnessed an elderly prisoner shit himself as he tried to make it all the way from his cell to the bathrooms. Shit trailing from his leg. This is how we treat our elders in America. Also, witnessed other prisoners step up to help him because we know no one else will help us.
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Securus offered prisoners in Washington two e-stamps, the equivalent of 50 cents for deleting hundreds of hours worth of work.
Thanks Securus, so grateful for your generosity.
I’m an incarcerated journalist. Today Securus, a predatory prison communication co, silenced journalists. With no warning they deleted all drafts of writing. Years of work. Manuscripts. Articles. Everything gone. We’re no longer able to save drafts. Now near impossible to write.
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The guards have been on a cell search tear lately. They keep destroying art work/tossing art supplies. One guy had a painting he spent weeks on thrown into a puddle and destroyed. Many artists are giving up and throwing away their supplies. It's sad to see less and less art here.
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Saw my wife today...behind plexiglass for one hour. No touching. Prisoners in WA only get a single one hour visit per month right now. Guards can touch prisoners and our family while they pat us down but we can't hug our vaccinated family. What do visits look like in your state?
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