David A. Graham of The Atlantic reflects back on the time he worked with John J. Lennon to publish his first piece for the publication, as well as John’s recent feature article on mental illness in prisons.
EXCERPT
You don’t have to take my word for the quality of the copy; although we exchanged a couple drafts—a painstakingly slow process over U.S. mail, especially for someone accustomed to editing in real time and immediate turnarounds—the final product that I published closely tracks Lennon’s original. He just didn’t need much editing.
Lennon’s strength as a writer was partly personal, someone grappling with his own worst experiences and actions in a serious way; and partly systemic, the product of educational programs offered behind bars. A former juvenile offender, he’d taken up the craft of writing seriously. It was one way to kill time, and he had plenty: He won’t be eligible for parole until 2029. A few months after I published the piece in August 2013, Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times wrote a column about him, and published a piece by Lennon on his blog. I was impressed by Lennon’s skill, but wondered what more he could do with it from behind bars. I was guilty of a lack of imagination. Since his first piece, John J. Lennon has built up a career as a reporter and journalist behind bars. He’s now incarcerated at Sing Sing—a more desirable location, I’ve learned, both because of its proximity to New York City, with a view of the Hudson River, and because it doesn’t have the fraught history between guards and prisoners that Attica does—and has published work at The Guardian, Pacific Standard, and elsewhere, and is a contributing writer at The Marshall Project. There are many accomplished writers in prisons, including those who have become writers while incarcerated, but Lennon’s commitment to reporting, on top of writing about his personal experiences, makes his work especially unusual and valuable.
Read Graham’s full piece here.