They call it “the cigarette ban”

With C Derek Varn

The Trial Transcript

Jimmy: A Brief Death Penalty Story

Everything we did, found, and didn't find on my trip to Alabama

Everything we did, found, and didn't find on my trip to Alabama

I don't get to write too many stories on the happier side.

Check out this great listen on Audible.com. Bullock is not just a book about conditions in a horrifying Alabama prison—it is a collective testimony, a record of survival and resistance, and a call to confront the prison system as an instrument of state violence. Through in-depth interviews w...

Spread the word!

Spread the word!

He and his sister speak to HTR

From one leftist writer to some others: If you get what you want, you might ruin it for everyone. In the meantime, you sound like a bunch of fucking crybabies.

From one leftist writer to some others: If you get what you want, you might ruin it for everyone. In the meantime, you sound like a bunch of fucking crybabies.

by Nikki D with Matthew Vernon Whalan

By Robert Earl Council, AKA "Kinetic Justice"

Part one of an HTR oral history series about his life and his experiences in Florida prisons. I didn't want to bury the lead, however, so in part one, we are starting at the end.

Short Poem

A totally laid back, freewheeling affair

Part Three in the Oral History Series on His Life and Work

Part Three in the Oral History Series on His Life and Work

(Part Two of the Oral History Series With Emmett Tatter)

He tells me the story, and about the rest of his life and work, in an HTR oral history series. This is Part One.

Hard Times Reviewer is a reader-supported publication.

Hard Times Reviewer is a reader-supported publication.

Another Long Dissent in This Ruling

Thanks to Breht O’Shea for a great conversation on Rev Left Radio about my book, Bullock: Chronicles of Deprivation and Despair in an American Prison. Here is a link to listen: https://revolutionaryle...

Matthew Vernon Whalan joins the show to discuss , an interview-driven, investigative journalistic, and collectively narrated portrait of life inside Bullock Correctional Facility in Alabama. Thr...

Hard Times Reviewer is a reader-supported publication.

Hard Times Reviewer is a reader-supported publication.

Prisoner Sentenced Decades Ago at Age 17 Reflects on the Alabama Prison System

The State of Alabama wants to execute Charles "Sonny" Burton for capital murder. But Sonny never killed anyone. The identity of the shooter, Derrick DeBruce, was never in dispute. However, Alabama al...

Probably sound like a broken record to some of you. Maybe it seems like a small thing. Well, not to this writer. Look forward to it coming up again in future articles and books too. Not letting it go.

Probably sound like a broken record to some of you. Maybe it seems like a small thing. Well, not to this writer. Look forward to it coming up again in future articles and books too. Not letting it go.

Supreme Court Next

Supreme Court Next

Childersburg Prisoner:"We Live in Trauma"

Childersburg Prisoner:"We Live in Trauma"

"People can get used to anything," right? Matt Whalan reminds us that it's extremely hard to get used to any kind of human life at all, never mind the lives of Gazans or prisoners or the homeless.

Families and activists gathered at the Alabama State Capitol Wednesday to honor 1,500 people who died in custody and demand systemic reform.

He and his sister speak to HTR

He and his sister speak to HTR

And a brief reflection on writing it here

After Release, Alabama Man Reflects on His Experiences in the State's Prison System

After Release, Alabama Man Reflects on His Experiences in the State's Prison System

After Release, Alabama Man Reflects on His Experiences in the State's Prison System

Lester Macklin Sr. Discusses His Son's Life and His Death in Alabama Prison

Lester Macklin Sr. Discusses His Son's Life and His Death in Alabama Prison

Shelissa Burnett on the Grief of Losing Her Son While he was in the Custody of the Alabama Department of Corrections in Ongoing Oral History Series on the Life and Death of Lester Vinnie Macklin Jr.

It's been weeks of this shit now

It's been weeks of this shit now