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John J. Lennon lives at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, where he is serving his 24th year of a 28-years-to-life sentence. He’s also a journalist whose work has appeared in Esquire, the New York Times, the Atlantic, and more. Until last year, he was at Sullivan Correctional Facility, where he mentored emerging writers, both informally and most recently, through the Sullivan Nonfiction Writing Workshop. He writes for @nybooks about setting that up, and what happened when it came to an end with the prison’s closure. “I often think about the time before I came to prison, when I had no promising future. I’ve come to realize that two opposing realities can be true at once: prison probably saved my life and it’s where I learned to write; and prison is a disgusting place that’s hurting me more now than ever,” he writes. “I’m both ashamed and proud of my path. But it wouldn’t have been possible if prison officials hadn’t given writing programs a chance.” [Story may be paywalled]

https://www.nybooks.com/online/2025/05/21/finding-the-story-prison-writing/

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