Mindful Writing from the County Jail

Mindful Writing from the County Jail is collection of over one-hundred, micro-short stories from pre-trial detainees, participating in FreeWriters mindful writing sessions. Mindful writing is a therapeutic practice that involves putting pencil to paper and finding some distance between you and your story, opening space for objective reflection and charting a fresh path forward.Crime is a public health issue that affects everyone, be it personal safety and well-fare or the impact on property values and commercial viability. However, most people have never seen or heard from someone in jail. Writings from Jail exposes crime from the vantage point of those within our community, who carry its burden. A burden borne of extreme poverty, untreated addiction and mental illness, institutional racism, limited work and educational opportunities.Hopefully, this collection of writings and illustrations from incarcerated artists, allows the reader to become a compassionate witness into the lives of individuals in jail and come away with an understanding of the background, humanity and hope inherent in each story.