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Inquest

@inquest.bsky.social
15K followers 453 following 644 posts

National Magazine Award finalist. Cited in Best American Essays. Stillwater Award winner. Focused on ending mass incarceration. All our links: linktr.ee/inquest.org Can you spare $5?: inquest.org/donate

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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"The initiative grew out of Freedom Reads 's work bringing libraries to prisons: alongside expanding access to literature, the organization wanted to create a platform for incarcerated readers to participate in the broader literary conversation."
inquest.org
“We Have These Beautiful Dreams” - Abigail Glasgow - Inquest
How a literary prize judged by incarcerated readers builds connection across prison walls and nurtures imagination in the face of oppression.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This week Inquest covered the two-century history of U.S. prison publications and shared memories of experiencing 9/11 from inside Louisiana's Angola prison. Get the full recap: mailchi.mp/inquest.o...
Quote card from Kristine Guillaume's Inquest article "Under the Warden's Eye": "Communication, communing, and community pose a threat to the carceral apparatuses that seek to fracture relations and exercise control within and beyond prison walls."
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Kristine Guillaume on the turbulent history of prison newspapers and their complex relationship to carceral censorship—part of our Defending Prison Journalism series.
inquest.org
Under the Warden’s Eye - Kristine Guillaume - Inquest
For over two centuries, prison publications have produced an unflinching archive of U.S. punishment and resistance.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
"I wanted to hear somebody familiar—somebody I loved—tell me where they were. Some ordinary place that I could picture in my mind and keep them there." @really-mad.bsky.social on experiencing 9/11 inside of Louisiana's Angola prison.
inquest.org
A Somber Peace in Angola - William Kissinger - Inquest
In response to our 9/11 coverage, a contributor shares his memory of watching the attacks unfold from inside Louisiana State Penitentiary.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This week Inquest partnered with Represent Justice to share three short films by formerly incarcerated filmmakers—streamable for free on our site—and wrapped up our 9/11 series with a reflection on Muslims and race. Get the full recap: mailchi.mp/inquest.o...
Quote from Julius Irving, whose film 'The Silent (R)evolution' is featured this week on Inquest: "It’s time for a drastic, far-reaching change. While we’re waiting for the system to catch up and catch on, us—me, you, the people—hold a tremendous duty to one another."
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Stream three short films from Represent Justice’s 2026 Ambassador Films collection, each exploring the far-reaching harms of incarceration. The first in a series we’ll be sharing this fall focused on Represent Justice’s 2026 Ambassadors cohort.
inquest.org
Pathways Beyond Criminalized Crisis - Inquest x Represent Justice
Inquest shares three short films from Represent Justice’s 2026 Ambassador Films collection, each exploring the far-reaching harms of incarceration.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"After 9/11, there was an eruption of knowledge that sought to understand what violence and discrimination against Muslims meant." Atiya Husain on how to grapple with the meaning of the War on Terror vis-a-vis race. Part of 25 Years Since 9/11 series w/ Acacia Magazine
inquest.org
American Muslims and the Race Trap - Atiya Husain - Inquest
After 9/11, racialization became a powerful way to describe anti-Muslim oppression. It also may have made racial thinking harder to escape.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
This week, Inquest and Acacia Magazine continued our 25 Years Since 9/11 series with an essay on post-9/11 Islamophobia on death row, and an exposé about the lucrative surveillance economy that sprung up under the pretense of homeland defense. Get the full recap: mailchi.mp/inquest.o...
Quote card from Inquest x Acacia's article by Alim Braxton, "Rebuilding the Ummah Behind Bars," in our 25 Years Since 9/11 series: "No one mentioned my religion, but it seemed to shadow every exchange. Geopolitical tensions thousands of miles away—wholly unrelated to me—had suddenly become grounds for treating me as a threat."
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
"Twenty-five years after 9/11, the security state is no longer a response to any particular threat. It is an accumulation regime—a machine for converting tax dollars into corporate revenue." Brendan McQuade & Ed Vogel w/ Acacia Magazine
inquest.org
The Post-9/11 Surveillance Payday - Brendan McQuade & Ed Vogel - Inquest x Acacia
How the pretext of homeland security birthed a public–private tech surveillance economy that makes billions in profit every year.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
"Here I was ... in solitary confinement. I couldn’t have been further away from Ground Zero. And yet, as anything associated with Islam came to be treated as a threat, I was swept into the widening dragnet." —incarcerated author & imam Alim Braxton on incarceration post-9/11.
inquest.org
Rebuilding the Ummah Behind Bars - Alim Braxton - Inquest x Acacia
A decade after 9/11 fractured the Islamic community at Central Prison in North Carolina, I helped rebuild it.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
This week Inquest and Acacia launched our copublished series 25 Years Since 9/11 with an essay about the experience of being an incarcerated Muslim after the attacks, and an interview about being surveilled by the NYPD for being Muslim. Get the full recap: mailchi.mp/inquest.o...
Quote card from Inquest and Acacia's interview with Asad Dandia, "When Counterterrorism Comes for You": "My dad is like, ‘Guess who visited while you were away?’ I figured it had been the NYPD. He says, ‘No, the FBI.’ That’s how I realize that a federal agency is collaborating with the police to retaliate against me and other Muslims."
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
"When counterterrorism forces make you a focus of their interest, people are afraid of associating with you. People don’t talk about how the consequences affect your relationships." @asadfromnyc.bsky.social on being surveilled by the NYPD for being Muslim. inquest.org/when-counter...
inquest.org
When Counterterrorism Comes for You - Asad Dandia interviewed by Hira Ahmed - Inquest & Acacia
At nineteen, Asad Dandia discovered that an NYPD informant was spying on him. He joined a landmark suit against the department—and won.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
"The post-9/11 hostility being faced by incarcerated Muslims was not abstract." Incarcerated writer Rashon Venable on being Muslim in NY prisons after 9/11. Part of our ongoing 25 Years Since 9/11 series with Acacia.
inquest.org
“Muslims Were the Enemies at That Time” - Rashon Venable - Inquest
In New York prisons, Islam offered Black men discipline, dignity, and a path away from violence. After 9/11, it also made us targets.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
"We are now a quarter century into the so-called War on Terror, which either engineered or expanded (and sometimes both) many of the horrors around human rights and civil liberties that we face today." New series launched today with Acacia magazine on 9/11 at 25.
inquest.org
Twenty-Five Years Since 9/11 - Inquest x Acacia
A series copublished by Inquest and Acacia magazines examining the impact of a quarter century of the War on Terror.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
This week, Inquest shared exclusive reporting about the struggles of incarcerated cancer patients, and an international study on the role of policing in keeping poor people and people of color marginalized. Get the full recap: mailchi.mp/inquest.o...
Quote card for Jeshua Noel's Inquest article "'I Want to Know Who’s Responsible for This Man’s Health'": "There is an obvious conflict of interest in the model of contractual health care: by its very nature, it pits profit against the responsibility to provide often quite costly medical care. The former often wins."
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
"The rhetoric of policing, which portrays the periphery and its residents as a threat to the rest of the city, is followed by policies and violent actions that attempt to contain marginalized population[s]." —Sebastián Sclofsky / NYU Press
inquest.org
How Police in São Paulo and LA Keep People “Black, Poor, & Peripheral” - Sebastián Sclofsky - Inquest
An international study of policing in Brazil and the U.S. highlights how racial and economic exclusion are enforced through violent state practices.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
São Paulo & LA are "highly segregated urban spaces where racialized populations are concentrated and state violence operates as a governing mechanism." Sebastián Sclofsky with an international study on how policing enforces marginalization.
inquest.org
How Police in São Paulo and LA Keep People “Black, Poor, & Peripheral” - Sebastián Sclofsky - Inquest
An international study of policing in Brazil and the U.S. highlights how racial and economic exclusion are enforced through violent state practices.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
"U.S. prisons are both the site of—and the engine for—a vast medical crisis." —Jeshua Noel reporting from inside Missouri's FCC prison.
inquest.org
“I Want to Know Who’s Responsible for This Man’s Health” - Jeshua Noel - Inquest
In Missouri prisons, people with cancer say lifesaving treatment is often delayed and denied by a private contractor, leaving incarcerated patients and their families to shoulder the caregiving.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
"I just need to be in an environment where I will heal." Incarcerated journalist Jeshua Noel reports on the challenges of receiving cancer care in Missouri's prisons.
inquest.org
“I Want to Know Who’s Responsible for This Man’s Health” - Jeshua Noel - Inquest
In Missouri prisons, people with cancer say lifesaving treatment is often delayed and denied by a private contractor, leaving incarcerated patients and their families to shoulder the caregiving.
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Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 07/08/2026
No First Amendment for prison journalists The law has constructed a regime in which incarcerated journalists are silenced and punished for telling the truth about what happens behind these walls. Read more by incarcerated journalist Ivan Kilgore in @inquest.bsky.social:
inquest.org
No First Amendment for Prison Journalists - Ivan Kilgore - Inquest
The law has constructed a regime in which incarcerated journalists are silenced and punished for telling the truth about what happens behind these walls.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
This week, Inquest shared first-person reporting on prison dog attacks, and reviewed a new book about police unions. Get the full recap: mailchi.mp/inquest.o...
Quote card for Jaeon Chavis's Inquest article "Virginia's Prisons Have a Dog Problem": "The dog was thrashing my leg like a toy. I was so terrified that this might be where I die. It felt like forever before the officer told the dog to let go. When it finally did, it took some of my flesh with it."
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
"When the dog finally bit me, I did not feel it immediately. It was thrashing my leg like a toy but I was in shock, and so terrified that this might be where I die." —Jaeon Chavis, incarcerated in Virginia
inquest.org
Virginia’s Prisons Have a Dog Problem - Jaeon Chavis - Inquest
In the past decade, hundreds of incarcerated people have been attacked by guard dogs in Virginia’s prisons, often seriously. I'm one of them.
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Sandeep @sandeepinbk.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Wrote about @stschrader1.bsky.social’s great new book for @inquest.bsky.social
Front cover of Blue Power by Stuart SchraderSchrader, notably, does not conclude by prescribing a set of disempowering reforms. Those are easy enough to find.The book is about the far messier questions of political and cultural power, how they are built and reproduced over time, which defies easy analysis. Any prescription would have to be provisional. The book is nevertheless an impressive contribution. Schrader allows us to consider anew how police built their power over time, stretching back to the civil rights era, transforming U.S. politics along the way. This is a truly fresh addition to the combination histories of U.S. policing and politics. But more importantly, Blue Power is invaluable for anyone thinking and working toward racial and economic justice today.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
"My biggest fear since being here had been being attacked by one of those dogs. Yet here I was." Incarcerated Virginian Jaeon Chavis shares the harrowing story of being one of the hundreds of people attacked by guard dogs in the state's prisons.
inquest.org
Virginia’s Prisons Have a Dog Problem - Jaeon Chavis - Inquest
In the past decade, hundreds of incarcerated people have been attacked by guard dogs in Virginia’s prisons, often seriously. I'm one of them.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
"Police almost never express solidarity with other workers and expect their own labor to be treated preferentially." Sandeep on the democratic stakes of cop's anti-union unions
inquest.org
A Union Apart - Sandeep Dhaliwal - Inquest
Stuart Schrader’s ‘Blue Power’ illuminates the history of how police unions coalesced as tools for guaranteeing preferential treatment and protection from accountability.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
"A critical history of the police union movement, tracing how it emerged as a profoundly anti-democratic institution." Sandeep reviews Stuart Schrader 's new book 'Blue Power' on the emergence of police unions as firewalls against accountability.
inquest.org
A Union Apart - Sandeep Dhaliwal - Inquest
Stuart Schrader’s ‘Blue Power’ illuminates the history of how police unions coalesced as tools for guaranteeing preferential treatment and protection from accountability.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
This week, Inquest shared a call to decarcerate social work, and published a personal essay on the bureaucratic hell of parole. Get the full recap: mailchi.mp/inquest.o...
Quote card for Carolyn Strudwick's Inquest article "Reclaiming Social Work from the State": "When the government finally recognizes the damage of its own failed policies, it frequently turns to social workers—and the profession’s language of compassion—to make its systems look more humane."
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
"Community supervision would be more aptly named community surveillance, and it plays an integral role in maintaining the punishment bureaucracy. It is incentivized to keep people on their watch for as long as possible." —Wesley Vaughan
inquest.org
Freed from the Community Supervision Trap - Wesley Vaughan - Inquest
Parole is a nonsensical bureaucracy, with demands that run counter to public safety and successful reentry. In recent years, Oregon has passed legislation to reduce the number of people caught in it.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
"In the 17 months I was on [my parole officer's] caseload, I never had a permanent address approved by her. She only ever approved one W-2 job & it was temporary." Wesley Vaughan on the decarceral urgency of freeing people from parole so they can put their lives back together
inquest.org
Freed from the Community Supervision Trap - Wesley Vaughan - Inquest
Parole is a nonsensical bureaucracy, with demands that run counter to public safety and successful reentry. In recent years, Oregon has passed legislation to reduce the number of people caught in it.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
"When the government finally recognizes the damage of its own failed policies, it frequently turns to social workers—and the language of compassion—to mitigate harm and make its systems look more humane." —Caroline Strudwick on freeing social work from the carceral state
inquest.org
Reclaiming Social Work from the State - Caroline Strudwick - Inquest
From crime bills to family policing, reforms have bound social work to punishment. Holistic defense offers a path to realign the profession.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
This week, Inquest shared stories from elderly people in California who are sentenced to indefinite incarceration, and offered an argument for making Post-Incarceration Syndrome a formal diagnosis. Get the full recap: mailchi.mp/inquest.o...
Quote card for Kevin D. Sawyer's Inquest article "The Elderly '7-Ups' Enduring Indefinite Incarceration": "For many lifers, the reality is that their chance of receiving parole in California is vanishingly small. And in the current political climate—saddled with a governor with presidential ambitions—routes to more sweeping changes are often foreclosed."
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
After his sixteenth parole denial, Steven Drown told incarcerated journalist Kevin D. Sawyer that "the board adds new requirements for release each time lifers attend a new parole hearing. 'What else do I need to do?' he asked." A collab with Solitary Watch
inquest.org
The Elderly “7-Ups” Enduring Indefinite Incarceration - Kevin D. Sawyer - Inquest
Nearly 200 people are serving indefinite sentences in California. These are some of their stories.
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Prison Journalism Project @prisonjournalism.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Blocking reading materials and censoring writing are both ways that prisons erase expression before it can reach an audience. Story via @inquest.bsky.social.
inquest.org
Destroying the Conditions that Make Speech Possible - Stevie Wilson - Inquest
Blocking reading materials and censoring writing are both ways that prisons erase expression before it can reach an audience.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
"The damage is cumulative, built day by day in an environment defined by threat and survival." Incarcerated author James Sheffield argues there is a need for a formal, distinct medical diagnosis for post-incarceration PTSD.
inquest.org
Diagnosing the Trauma of Incarceration - James A. Sheffield - Inquest
It’s long overdue for Post-Incarceration Syndrome to be classified as a distinct psychiatric disorder, deserving of compassion and treatment.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
This week, Inquest offered a data-backed argument for ending "pretextual" traffic stops by police, and argued for abolishing the family policing system. Get the full recap: mailchi.mp/inquest.o...
Quote card from Parambir Dhillon's Inquest article "You Can't Reform a Traffic Stop": "The surest way to prevent police violence is to eliminate the occasions to inflict it. Instead of trying to change the way individual officers think, why don't we restrict their ability to act on their biases?"
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
"The most effective way to reduce the harms of policing is not to perfect police encounters, but to prevent them in the first place." Parambir Dhillon on ending pretextual traffic stops and the violence against people of color that they routinely lead to.
inquest.org
You Can’t Reform a Traffic Stop - Parambir Dhillon - Inquest
Despite requirements that they undergo bias training and use body‑worn cameras, local police are still leaving Black men bloodied after pulling them over for minor violations.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
"Perhaps it is always a safe political move for policymakers to enact legislation and create new structures that profess to save the children. . . ." [THREAD 1/2]
inquest.org
Ending Family Policing - Erin Miles Cloud, Erica R. Meiners, Shannon Perez-Darby & C. Hope Tolliver - Inquest
The so-called child welfare system is a core plank of the U.S. carceral state. How can we actually make our communities stronger and safer?
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Prison Journalism Project @prisonjournalism.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
The Art of Mothering Through Bars. For incarcerated mothers, sending handmade art to their children can help nurture vital connections—but often even this is hindered by prison officials. Story via @inquest.bsky.social.
inquest.org
The Art of Mothering Through Bars - Holly Foster-Talbot - Inquest
For incarcerated mothers, sending handmade art to their children can help nurture vital connections—but often even this is hindered by prison officials.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
This week, Inquest continued our Defending Prison Journalism series with an article from Stevie Wilson about prison censorship, and explored how the War on Drugs packed jails by changing how money bail was used. Get the full recap: mailchi.mp/inquest.o...
Quote card from Stevie Wilson's Inquest article "Destroying the Conditions that Make Speech Possible": "There were stretches when my mail simply never reached me. This insidious form of censorship is difficult to fight. Because missing mail is not technically confiscated, there is nothing formal to appeal."
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
This week, Inquest continued our Defending Prison Journalism series with an article from Stevie Wilson about prison censorship, and explored how the War on Drugs packed jails by changing how money bail was used. Get the full recap: mailchi.mp/inquest.o...
Quote card from Stevie Wilson's Inquest article "Destroying the Conditions that Make Speech Possible": "There were stretches when my mail simply never reached me. This insidious form of censorship is difficult to fight. Because missing mail is not technically confiscated, there is nothing formal to appeal."
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
"Censorship does not only affect knowledge acquisition; it also impedes knowledge production. Without connection to the world and access to its reading materials, imprisoned people remain ignorant of what has happened and is happening." Stevie Wilson
inquest.org
Destroying the Conditions that Make Speech Possible - Stevie Wilson - Inquest
Blocking reading materials and censoring writing are both ways that prisons erase expression before it can reach an audience.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
"Prison employees destroyed every scrap of paper I owned…. Roughly ten large cardboard boxes—each holding a cubic foot archive of my life—disappeared overnight. I received no compensation. As a writer, the loss was incalculable." Stevie Wilson
inquest.org
Destroying the Conditions that Make Speech Possible - Stevie Wilson - Inquest
Blocking reading materials and censoring writing are both ways that prisons erase expression before it can reach an audience.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
"The system says people are presumed innocent while holding them in cages because they are poor." —Nicole Zayas Manzano / The Bail Project
inquest.org
How the War on Drugs Packed Jails - Nicole Zayas Manzano - Inquest
The impact of the War on Drugs continues to be felt in how it dramatically expanded the use of pretrial detention and bail.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
The War on Drugs, which is 55 years old this summer, "reshaped the front end of the criminal justice system and laid the groundwork for a dramatic expansion of pretrial detention." Nicole Zayas Manzano from The Bail Project lays out the harm it continues to do.
inquest.org
How the War on Drugs Packed Jails - Nicole Zayas Manzano - Inquest
The impact of the War on Drugs continues to be felt in how it dramatically expanded the use of pretrial detention and bail.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
This week, Inquest shared Black political prisoner Martin Sostre's take on the Fourth of July, and look at how incarcerated mothers maintain long-distance contact with their children. Get the full recap: mailchi.mp/inquest.o...
Quote card from Martin Sostre's 1976 speech "Follow the Same Principles that Won My Freedom": "This country claims to celebrate a bicentennial based on liberty. And yet the very founding fathers—George Washington and the rest of them—were slaveowners."
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
“The very fact that I am here now, after being given forty-one years, is proof positive that even the most repressive state can be forced to disgorge its political prisoners and victims of its oppression.” —Martin Sostre
inquest.org
The Balance of Power Is on Our Side - Martin Sostre & Garrett Felber - Inquest
A new anthology of writing from influential Black political prisoner Martin Sostre offers lessons from a previous era of mass political imprisonment that can inform resistance in our own.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
"Collective action can succeed . . . in freeing political prisoners and building a new egalitarian society.” Garrett Felber introduces a timely essay from political prisoner Martin Sostre.
inquest.org
The Balance of Power Is on Our Side - Martin Sostre & Garrett Felber - Inquest
A new anthology of writing from influential Black political prisoner Martin Sostre offers lessons from a previous era of mass political imprisonment that can inform resistance in our own.
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NYU Press @nyupress.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
New from Inquest! A moving excerpt from Holly Foster-Talbot's work "We All Do the Time: Who Cares for Incarcerated Women and Why It Matters," on the incarcerated mothers who handcraft backpacks, blankets, and crocheted gifts to stay present in their children's lives.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
"Supporting the families, friends, and volunteers who sustain relationships with incarcerated women is essential. This responsibility should not fall disproportionately on already marginalized communities." Holly Foster-Talbot w/ thanks to NYU Press
inquest.org
The Art of Mothering Through Bars - Holly Foster-Talbot - Inquest
For incarcerated mothers, sending handmade art to their children can help nurture vital connections—but often even this is hindered by prison officials.
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Inquest @inquest.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Inquest's editors had an amazing day at The Warehouse NYC's abolitionist fair! Thanks to the organizers —especially Prisonculture — and our gracious hosts at the Bedford Library. And to all the community who kept the library packed with amazing vibes for the entire day.
Inquest's editorial team seated behind a table of Inquest swag at The Warehouse NYC's abolitionist fair in the Bedford Library branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.
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