What do you know of prison life?

What do you know of prison life?

One of every 102 Californians is living in a jail or prison according to the Pew Center on the States.

So we ask: What is life like for those nearly 300,000 in-custody people and for the guards, cooks and medical staff assigned to care for them?

For years, California government has fought the courts over how to resolve overcrowding and medical shortcomings in the state prison system. Many county jails are overcrowded. Federal immigration detention centers have been the subject of civil rights complaints.

Help KPCC tell the story of local, state and federal lockups here in Southern California. Tell us your true stories of what goes right and wrong.

Fill out the form below to share your experiences with KPCC. We read every comment and a reporter may follow up with a call for more information or an interview.
Photo credit: Rennett Stowe via Flickr

* indicates required field
E-mail *
First Name *
Last Name *
Street Address
City *
State *
Postal Code *
Country
Phone *

What's your relationship to a prison or jail? (Check any answer that applies)
I am an inmate
I used to be an inmate
I am related to an inmate
I work with inmates
I work at a prison or jail
I work in the justice system
I do business with a jail or prison
I don't have any dealings with inmates, jails or prisons.
Other

What type of prison or jail are you familiar with? (Check any that apply)
City jail
County jail
State prison
Federal prison
Immigration detention center
Juvenile detention center
House arrest
Parole
Probation
Other

Specifically, which jails or prisons are you familiar with and why?
Tell a true story from your own life about the most serious problem you have seen affecting a jail or prison. (This might involve physical or mental health issues, safety, civil rights, rehab, working conditions or other issues.)
What have you seen go right in a jail or prison, and why was it successful?
What is the media missing in its coverage of prisons, prisoners and custody workers?
What else should we know and who else should we talk to about this topic?
May we read your response on the air or publish it on our website, identifying you by name? *
Yes
No
Maybe

Would you be willing to speak with a reporter about this topic? *
Yes
No
Maybe

If you have an original photo of yourself, or one that illustrates your prison or jail story, you can upload it here.
What's the story behind this photo? (who, what, where and when was it taken?)
May we publish your photo on our web site? *
Yes
No


Now we'd like to ask some biographical questions to better understand where you are coming from. You are not required to answer any of these and any information you give us will remain private within the newsroom.
In what year were you born?
How do you describe your race or ethnicity? No need for traditional labels, choose the words that you prefer.
Which of these best describes your education level?
What do you do for work?

Your responses are confidential and are seen only by journalists. Nothing you share here will be aired or published without your permission. A reporter may call for more information.

We ask for some information about you so we can contact you if we have questions.

By filling out this form, you are giving Southern California Public Radio and its parent company American Public Media permission to contact you for help with current and future news coverage, and you become part of the Public Insight Network.

You may have opportunities to also inform national stories on programs such as Marketplace, Marketplace Money, Speaking of Faith and American RadioWorks.

Your answers are confidential. We will not quote you on the air or on the Web without first getting your explicit permission.

If you give us permission to publish your comments, we may edit them before reading them on-air or posting them to Southern California Public Radio's and American Public Media's Web sites. We reserve the right to reuse or republish your submission, or to withhold it from publication.

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