John J. Lennon
The Prisoner and the Pen
Writing from a cell at Sullivan Correctional Facility, I’m part of a renaissance of prison journalism. If prison authorities had their way, no one would be writing from the inside at all.
Sex, Love, & Marriage Behind Bars
What are conjugal visits really like? Incarcerated journalist John J. Lennon takes Esquire inside one of the last bastions of prisoner intimacy in America: trailers of New York.
The Shakedown at Sing Sing
In the prison yard last summer, I received an ultimatum: pay up or get shivved (again). For what felt like the first time, I chose door number three.
The Day the Coronavirus Came to Prison
In the days before he went into lockdown, John J. Lennon sent this dispatch from Sing Sing, on how the maximum-security prison was preparing for the inevitable arrival of COVID-19.
'You Haven't Given Up': How Prisoners Are Finding a Place for Personal Style on the Inside
In New York state prisons, a few accommodations for fashion have created a whole ecosystem of sartorial expression.
Jeffrey Epstein's Jailhouse Suicide Is More Feasible Than You Think
I should know. I've been there.
'This Place Is Crazy'
Our mental-health-care system is broken. Ten of every eleven psychiatric patients housed by the government are incarcerated. Here’s what this crisis looks like from the inside—a series of lost lives and a few rare victories—as reported by a prisoner-journalist.