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Illustration by Scotty Scott

I’m currently serving a life sentence in a California state prison in Corcoran, California, after I was sentenced 25 years to life for three strikes in 2001. Prison is where I learned to draw, paint and tattoo.

This is a sketch in pencil, ink pen and colored pencil. I worked on it for a while. My intention is to show everybody that there are a lot of poor people in prison and when you first arrive here, well, this cell is it. This is all you get besides some worn-out clothing and a bar of soap.

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.

Scotty Scott is an artist incarcerated in California.