Alkim Mills is a 28-year-old writer, performer, songwriter, and artist from Charleston, West Virginia. He enjoys fantasy novels and banana pudding, though theater is his true passion. He has served 11 years of a 20-years-tolife sentence.

Prince Shabaz is a 52-year-old man from Queens, New York. He loves to work with his hands, and enjoys carpentry, cooking, video games, and playing scrabble with his mother. He believes that an education is the key to success and believes there is more than one way to look at a problem. In 1988, he was sentenced to 27-years-to-life. He is truly sorry for the pain that he has caused.

Farhan Ahmed is from Punjab, Pakistan. He loves reading, nature-watching, and cooking. His favorite dishes are fried okra stuffed with ground beef, and brown rice stirred in cumin seed and seared with mint-flavored yogurt. He has six and a half years left of a 21-year sentence.

Lamarr Little is a 39-year-old artist, poet, author, producer, leather craftsman, designer, sculptor, barber, and graffiti artist, from Brooklyn, New York. He is currently earning a Bard College degree through the Bard Prison Initiative, and has survived being shot by the N.Y.P.D. He has served 17 years of a 25-years-to-life sentence.

Hector Rodriguez, age 41, is working to turn his life around from an unhealthy diet of drug selling and violence to one of rehabilitation, accepting responsibility for his actions. He hopes he will inspire the reader to reflect on the words that flow through his head as he serves time in a cell of the state penitentiary. He is serving a 28-years-to-life sentence, with seven years left before he can go before the parole board.

Kenneth Hogan is a loving father of two from Long Island, New York. He graduated from Albany High School in 1999, and was arrested on homicide charges one year later. Since then, he has vowed to reclaim his life, and has decided to turn his bad situation into an opportunity to fully develop his talent and love for writing. In 2002, he was sentenced to 25-years-to-life in prison, making his earliest release date September 14th, 2025. Hogan is currently seeking clemency.

Kareem "Kaljoni" Joyner is 42-years-old and enjoys reading, writing, cooking, and singing. He is serving a 25 years to life sentence, and has been in prison now for 20 years, two months and eight days. He is eligible for parole in four years.

Jamel Brown is a 27-year-old Bard college graduate with a deep passion for writing, cooking, and music. He wants his writing to one day become the voice of those who cannout speak for themselves. Brown wishes to work with at risk youth once he is released from prison. He is currently serving a 20-year sentence.

Moshe D. Canty is 39-years-old and currently being held at the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Wallkill, New York. He is a freelance writer, human rights activist, motivational speaker, ex-gang leader, Alternative to Violence Project (AVP) Facilitator, Vice-President of the African-American Cultural Organization, and author of upcoming self-help book, No More Bloodshed: Community is a Call for Unity. Canty is also happily married and a devout Muslim. He is serving a 25-year determinate sentence.

Robert “R.L.” Williams, age 32, teaches a creative writing workshop in Dutchess County, New York. From 2012-2015, he participated in the Poughkeepsie Public Library’s Big Read, an annual event sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. Most recently, Robert Williams has appeared in "The same thing make you laugh that thing gonna make you cry" (2016), a live video performance of original monologues. When the jack of all trades isn’t writing or reciting, he enjoys lying in the dead man’s yoga pose while contemplating the back of his eyelids. He is serving a 25-year prison sentence.

Michael Shane Hale is currently serving a 50-years-to-life sentence. In his 20th year of incarceration, Shane strives to be accountable, work hard for a second chance, and create real justice in his life that supports the memory of the man whose life he is responsible for taking. He wants society to know transformation is possible for all of us.

Pedro “Pete” Rosario is 42-years-old, born and raised in the South Bronx. He is the proud father of a handsome, precocious 11-year-old boy who he loves dearly, and is blessed with a loving, strong supportive circle of family and friends. He enjoys reading, writing, poetry, playing basketball and producing music on his keyboard. Rosario has been incarcerated since the age of 18. He is serving a life sentence.