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Prison Blog

In which Possum recounts his experiences as an offender in the system.

Possum Bones is autistic. He has identified as a dirty kid in the past, and he’s attended multiple rainbow gatherings. He has several years left to serve in the Washington Correctional system.

He has been making art since he could sit up. He communicates better in writing than speech. If you are interested in the experience of an autistic person doing prison time, check out his Prison Blog. If you are a fan of comic art, underground/outsider music, Lovecraft, Clarke Ashton Smith, Murakami, Cixui Liu, etc.

Reformation

I wanna say, in general, if there's any way I've been forced to improvise- which is basically against the rules- its always due to one of two things. One , accommodations are inadequate esp. where disabilities are concerned, the entire top bunk and second desk were added probably after the light fixtures for example. So, in that instance changes have to be made to stuff to support sane life. Second, to allow for highly specialized operations that are required for me to function as an artist... ie tables, lighting , displays taped up , etc. Every inmate whose here longer than a month does this kind of thing. That means it's necessary . The rules as they are are like, basically the same set of rules as the ones for closed custody I would guess. The rules about property and placement are really outdated and have no consideration for the livelihood of the people here . Which must be a consideration if we hold to the conceit that prison serves a reformatory purpose. But its obvious that reformation is just a lie we tell ourselves , isn't it ?

Elisa Carlson