John J. Lennon

Finding the Story

Running a nonfiction workshop in prison for three months, I saw how writing could let my peers forge a new identity. Then it came to an end. 

Tangled Justice

A new book examines the complex relationship between forgiveness and justice through the story of Paula Cooper, who was sentenced to death at the age of sixteen.

True Crime and Punishment: An Exchange

The Right to Be Artful

“The advantage of the prison journalist is the ability to access the pure story without first coming to know the character through his worst deed.”

Peddling Darkness

True crime stories, like Sarah Weinman’s Scoundrel, make for suspenseful reading. But do they exploit the criminal, and deepen a thirst for punishment?

A Canon for the American Prisoner

“There’s something critically important that books do for us that we can’t get anywhere else—because so much of prison is trying to master the art of becoming.”

The Murderer, the Writer, the Reckoning

At Jack Abbott’s trial, Norman Mailer pleaded with the press. “At least let Abbott become a writer.” Then he said, “a democracy involves taking risks.” Reading this made me feel envious, and a bit confused. Wasn’t the idea to reaffirm literature itself, in Mailer’s words, “as a human expression that will survive all obstacles”?