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  • GET INVOLVED
    • Join Our Email List
    • Bring Free Minds to Your Group
    • On the Same Page: Write Night
    • Intern or Volunteer With Us
    • Give Poetry Feedback
    • Work With Us
  • DONATE
    • Donate Online
    • Other Ways to Donate
    • Employer Matching Gifts
    • Donate Books
    • New! Merch Store
  • About Us
    • Mission & Vision
    • Who We Are
    • In The Press
    • Supporters
    • National Projects
    • Resources For Educators
    • Resources For Incarcerated People
    • New! Merch Store
    • Contact Us
  • Our Work
    • Book Clubs and Writing Workshops
    • Reentry Services
    • On the Same Page
    • Books by Free Minds
    • Connect Magazine
    • Congressman John Lewis Fellowship
    • Thrive Under 25
    • Success Stories
  • News & Events
  • Poems
  • Contact Us

Nick’s Story

Nick’s Story

By Free Minds Book Club | November 22, 2017 | 4
Nick stands in front of the Washington Monument

If you had asked me what I wanted out of life when I was 16, I would have just shrugged my shoulders at you. I wouldn’t have had any answers…

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Free Minds Goes to Philadelphia

By Free Minds Book Club | October 25, 2017 | 0
Free Minds staff and Poet Ambassadors with students

In October, the Free Minds team (staff and Poet Ambassadors Terrell, Roderick, and Nokomis) hit the road to participate in a conference in Philadelphia, PA, and share their poetry and…

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Baltimore Author D. Watkins Speaks to DC Jail Book Club

By Free Minds Book Club | August 29, 2017 | 0
D. Watkins stands outside the jail with Free Minds and Department of Corrections staff

On a Thursday afternoon at the DC Jail, a group of men arranged chairs in a circle on the floor of the unit, surrounded on all sides by cell doors.…

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Authors Coe Booth and Patricia McCormick Share Their Stories at the DC Jail

By Free Minds Book Club | May 11, 2017 | 0
Coe Booth with Free Minds and DOC staff, and Councilmember David Grosso and staff member

By Mbachur Mbenga This spring, teenagers in our Book Club at the DC Jail had the incredible opportunity to learn from two talented and generous authors, Patricia McCormick and Coe…

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Free Minds Wins Renewal Award

By Free Minds Book Club | April 24, 2017 | 1
Free Minds Poet Ambassadors and Executive Director Tara Libert at the Renewal Summit

In 2017, Free Minds was honored to receive the Renewal Award for Ingenuity from the Atlantic and Allstate. Free Minds was one of five winners selected from approximately 500 organizations…

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About the Poetry Blog

The poets featured on this page are currently incarcerated, and many of them are in federal prisons far from home. Your feedback is a valuable source of motivation and connection to the outside community. Post your comments, feedback, and encouragement in the space below the poem, and it will be passed on directly to the author. Comments may not appear immediately on the site, as our team processes them to mail to the poets.

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Upcoming Events

On the Same Page: Write Night

January 27, 2021, 7:00 – 8:30 PM

Read and respond to poetry by incarcerated writers! Registration is required; click here to RSVP.

Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop

Free Minds uses books, creative writing, and peer support to awaken incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youths and adults to their own potential. Through creative expression, job readiness training, and violence prevention outreach, these poets achieve their education and career goals, and become powerful voices for change in the community.

Winner of the 2015 Aspen Ideas Award from the Aspen Institute, the Justice Potter Stewart Award from the Council for Court Excellence, and the Library of Congress Best Practices in Literacy Award.

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