Artwork by Kenneth Key

My failure, my regret is only a snapshot of the reality I live in. The odds are not in your favor, the ghettos of America doesn’t provide that. 

Instead society now sanctimoniously rejoices in our incarceration, with a self-righteous “They deserve it” mantra. I tell the youth all the time, don’t let my picture be your failure, your regret. I wake up in the morning to the regret of my son being in a cell right above me. 

Disclaimer: The views in this article are those of the author. Prison Journalism Project has verified the writer’s identity and basic facts such as the names of institutions mentioned.

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Kenneth M. Key

Kenneth M. Key is a writer and artist incarcerated in Illinois. He was born and raised in South Shore, on Chicago’s Southwest Side. He says he loved to draw as a kid, and he hopes to generate change as an artist, writer and occasional poet while he is incarcerated.