Prisons and jails are isolating by design. For more than four decades, Graterfriends has pushed back against that isolation.
Created in 1983 as an independent nonprofit and now published by the Pennsylvania Prison Society, Graterfriends is a bimonthly newsletter written primarily by and for incarcerated people. It gives incarcerated contributors a place to share essays, poetry, personal reflections, legal analysis, artwork, and stories from inside Pennsylvania's prisons. More importantly, it gives readers across facilities a way to stay connected, learn from one another, and know they are not alone.
Every issue exists because incarcerated writers continue to put pen to paper — and because dedicated volunteers ensure their voices are heard.
More than a publication
For volunteer editor Noelle, Graterfriends became especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic, when prisons were cut off from the outside world and reliable information was scarce.
Today, she still sees the publication as something that belongs first and foremost to the people who write and read it. "I see it as a resource for them that we just happen to type and put together," Noelle shared.
Contributors write about everything from prison conditions and legislation to grief, hope, faith, family, and everyday life. Others respond to one another's articles, creating conversations that stretch across correctional facilities.
Sometimes, Graterfriends even helps reconnect people who have been transferred to different prisons or lets someone learn that a longtime friend has passed away, providing a measure of connection and closure that would otherwise be impossible.
For volunteer editor Sarina Sandwell, that exchange matters in a system built around separation. Graterfriends, she says, “helps create openings for social connection where incarceration so often closes them.”
Learning directly from people inside
Since joining Graterfriends in 2021, volunteer Jack Murphy says the publication has taught him more about prison life than anywhere else.
The writing captures what can be difficult to see from the outside – from legal and political issues to the everyday realities of incarceration. “Graterfriends is the venue where I have learned more about prison experience than anywhere else,” Jack shared.
Those firsthand perspectives matter. They help people outside prison better understand the system and ensure that advocacy is informed by the people experiencing it every day.
Again and again, he has seen people in prison eager to learn, write and exchange ideas–but have limited access to books, new and other educational materials.
How each issue comes together
Producing Graterfriends is a months-long effort.
Every submission arrives by mail, is carefully typed, lightly edited to preserve the author's voice, designed, printed, and distributed. A small team of volunteers has worked together for years to make sure every issue reflects care, accuracy, and respect for the people behind the words.
Graterfriends exists because people inside continue to write, and because volunteers on the outside help ensure those words are shared.
Why Gratefriends Matters
Graterfriends contains thoughtful legal analysis, deeply researched opinions, creative writing, and powerful reflections from people whose perspectives are rarely heard.
As Noelle puts it, “advocacy becomes much more meaningful when it is informed directly by the people living inside the system every day.”
For many contributors, seeing their work published is also an affirmation that their experiences matter—that someone is listening.
For readers, it creates something equally valuable: community across prison walls.
A Legacy Worth Preserving
This year marks roughly 43 years of Graterfriends. While the Prison Society maintains an archive dating back to the late 1990s, many of the earliest editions have been lost over time.
If you have old copies of Graterfriends tucked away in a box or bookshelf, we'd love to hear from you. Even a scanned copy would help us preserve this remarkable history for future generations.
