Through institutional design and legal obstacles, mainstream media outlets are restricted in reporting firsthand on America’s massive carceral state. Vital information and issues from within US prisons and immigration detention centers remain underreported or entirely ignored.
Incarcerated writers and journalists regularly risk censorship and retaliation to share their firsthand experiences and perspectives. They are also systematically excluded from the editorial support, exposure, and professional networks available to others in the industry. While outside journalists often see their work featured across multiple outlets and legacy publications, incarcerated writers rarely have their work published beyond its original source.
Incarcerated journalist Jeremy Busby founded JoinJeremy in order to transform this dynamic. We are a collective dedicated to supporting the work of incarcerated journalists and amplifying their voices at this critical moment in history, when protecting free speech and vulnerable populations is more important than ever.
Through connecting, platforming and amplifying incarcerated voices, we aim to spread education, raise consciousness and compel action towards transforming the criminal legal system, abolishing its harmful practices, and directly supporting those impacted.
We invite you to join us in uplifting incarcerated journalists and writers as essential contributors to today’s media landscape. We are building multimedia platforms and collaborating with media outlets, community organizations, journalists and activists to fulfill our mission.
Our Values
We are a prisoner-led organization and we center the voices of those who are most impacted by the systemic problems that plague America’s Prison-Industrial Complex.
We strive for the critical inclusion and protection of those who are the most marginalized within the system, including: black, indigenous, immigrant, trans, LGBTQ, and/or disabled/neurodivergent prisoners, those in women’s facilities, and those who are ESL or non-English speaking.
In addition to protecting free speech and fact-reporting, we center the vital element of human storytelling as a driving force behind correcting the dehumanizing narratives that uphold the carceral system and its inhumane practices, from solitary confinement to the death penalty.
As a collective, we focus on connecting and building relationships across prison walls, communities, liberation movements, and individual backgrounds. We recognize that all struggles for freedom are vital and interconnected, in the spirit of Jeremy’s motto: “None of us is better than all of us.”
Projects
We select published pieces by incarcerated journalists and writers and highlight their work through generative discussions, interviews, and amplification over our multimedia digital platforms. We invite currently and formerly incarcerated voices along with activists, organizers, and professionals in various fields to discuss the vital issues they report on.
Incarcerated individuals frequently lack access to social media, e-mail, and other tools regularly used by writers to share and promote their work. Our team is dedicated to providing the support necessary to increase and strengthen connections across walls, and help the voices of incarcerated writers reach farther and wider.
As a publishing platform, JoinJeremy is currently unable to accept unsolicited submissions.