Our CEO Interview With The Appeal

Every year, 650,000 people return from prison. In The Return series, we will share some of their stories.

The editor’s note that greets readers of the latest edition of Tia Hamilton’s self-produced magazine, State v. Us, fully captures the spirit of the formerly incarcerated publisher and her message to those who’ve walked similar paths: “Four walls may hold your body, but it does not have to keep your mind.”

Inspired by her own experiences of incarceration and the stories of other people with similar experiences, Hamilton began devising State v. Us in 2017 as a way to elevate the voices of those who have been incarcerated. Since then, she has released four volumes with a fifth in progress and has worked hard to secure distribution in both correctional catalogs and the United States at large.