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Articles by Corey Devon Arthur
A new directive permits prison guards to record strip searches using body cameras – Scalawag
Prisoners are still being treated cruelly by the carceral state, despite the use of body scanners and body cameras. Instead of using these tools for accountability and maintaining the basic human dignity of those incarcerated, the prison system is weaponizing them for sexual violence: Prison guards are making pornographic movies starring the prison population using body cameras.
State of Shame
Since corrections officers went on strike throughout New York last month, seven prisoners have died. Others have missed court dates, been unable to meet with their lawyers and families, and gone without hot food, showers, medicine, and health care. Correctional officers have been on an unauthorized strike since February 17, demanding higher pay, increased searches of prison visitors, limits on mandatory overtime, and the reversal of recent prison reforms that limit solitary confinement.
Stripped of Dignity | Corey Devon Arthur | INQUEST
I have been bent over by the carceral state a thousand times. I’ve been strip-frisked so many times that my flesh feels like it has been snatched from my humanity. Some of these assaults have stayed stuck in my mind, ghostly images in freeze frames. In February of 2021, I published an essay with the Marshall Projectabout some of my experiences being processed into the prison–industrial complex. I finally had had enough.
Always Attica — Study and Struggle
By Corey Devon Arthur Attica was built to break men brutally, particularly Black men. Orisanmi Burton’s book, Tip of The Spear, draws a direct line from the “European trade in enslaved Africans,” to the bowels of D block Yard in Attica, during contemporary times where the cruelty is still ongoing and fresh. Humanhood required a response to this brand of oppression. “ATTICA! ATTICA!” The world came to shout.
Social Lynching - Spectre Journal
This is the latest installment of our regular series featuring incarcerated writers and artists. Thanks as always go to Empowerment Avenue, who continue to make this project possible. Nearly 20 years since I went to prison for second-degree murder, I’ve been revisiting how the media covered my case. Recently, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision partnered with JPay and offered every prisoner a free tablet.
We Talked Like We Were Still Locked Up Teens
The Criminal Justice System threw us in a cell on Rikers Island to rot and die. We were two teenagers from Brooklyn, born into bondage and a bunch of bad luck. Our teenage years tapered off into being animalized by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. No one had taught us how to survive prison with indeterminate life sentences. We were boys pushing the idea of dying in prison before we were adults. This started as a dark fantasy that turned into a daydream.
Turn The Music Up
When my world went dark, I turned the music up. At 16, I was sent to Rikers Island for drug possession. While there, my humanity was decimated. At 19, I killed a man. In her article "How and Why is Music a Good Tool for Health?" Elizabeth Scott said, "Music affects the body and mind in many powerful ways." I survived most of my days by turning the music all the way up. The life of a prisoner comes with built-in stressors and chronic pain.
Stopping Violence Over Prison Phone Time? There’s an App for That.
By Corey Devon Arthur Perspectives from those who work and live in the criminal justice system. Sign up to receive "Life Inside" emailed to you every week. Over the decades I’ve been in prison, I’ve seen firsthand how communication with the outside world comes at a price. All too often, prisoners are forced to use their blood as currency just to use the phone. I learned this lesson early. In 1994, at age 16, I was locked down on Rikers Island in C-74 Adolescent Jail.
I’ve Been Strip-Frisked Over 1,000 Times in Prison. I Consider It Sexual Assault
By Corey Devon Arthur Perspectives from those who work and live in the criminal justice system. Sign up to receive "Life Inside" emailed to you every week. In my 43 years of life, I've been strip-frisked over 1,000 times. New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Directive 4910 says strip-searching us for weapons, drugs and other contraband is lawful. I say it’s sexual assault and rape. This is my story, and the walls where this violence happens are my witnesses.
I Hate My Prison Dorm So Much, I Enjoyed COVID-19 Quarantine in the Box
By Corey Devon Arthur Perspectives from those who work and live in the criminal justice system. Sign up to receive "Life Inside" emailed to you every week. "The cell is his true natural habitat.” When reporter Alexander Nazaryan wrote that about me in a Newsweek article four years ago, I didn't challenge his assessment. Nor was I offended. It was true. When I did the interview I was a maximum A security prisoner. I had lived in one cell or another my entire adult life, and a few as a teenager.
The federal government just executed an inmate for the first time in 17 years
Early Tuesday morning, the Department of Justice carried out the first federal execution in nearly 20 years. The execution of 47-year-old Daniel Lewis Lee, who was convicted of killing a family of three in 1996, follows an overnight Supreme Court decision that ruled the death penalty constitutional. Lee was pronounced dead by lethal injection around 8 a.m. Tuesday by the Bureau of Prisons. He died at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he spent 20 years on death row.
As an inmate, I had to educate an entire prison about coronavirus
This article was originally published by The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for their newsletter, or follow The Marshall Project on Facebook or Twitter. One summer about 20 years ago, the main pipe that supplied water to Attica Correctional Facility burst. Similar to the COVID-19 crisis, it was unprecedented and prison officials struggled to adapt. To their credit, they eventually brought in lake water to flush the toilets.
During the COVID-19 Crisis, Don’t Shoot the Messenger
By Corey Devon Arthur Perspectives from those who work and live in the criminal justice system. Sign up to receive "Life Inside" emailed to you every week. One summer about 20 years ago, the main pipe that supplied water to Attica Correctional Facility burst. Similar to the COVID-19 crisis, it was unprecedented and prison officials struggled to adapt. To their credit, they eventually brought in lake water to flush the toilets. Unfortunately, it was after human feces had filled over 2,000 commodes.
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