Jevon Jackson

Currently 41, I’ve been incarcerated since I was 16 years old. My identity colors every picture that I create. Being incarcerated for over 25 years, most of what I write touches on this experience. But I eschew the “incarcerated writer” label because my identity is not limited to that of a prisoner. I feel like I’m always struggling to make my experiences in prison relatable to a reader who would otherwise have no accurate personal reference of what it means to live on this side of the wall. The uncompromising Truth of the conditions where I live can sometimes be cruel, immoral, and deplorable, but there may be a faction of people who read it and refuse to recognize the anguish and dehumanization of it because they believe “that’s how prison is supposed to be.” So I’m constantly searching for ways to connect my personal Truth to a more universal Truth where people, no matter their political or pious perspectives, can feel the same pulse/weight/skin. In my free time I enjoy playing Scrabble, chess and a high-stakes remixed version of Monopoly.