From 1982 to 1998, the state of California built 24 prisons -- the largest prison building project in the history of the world. More prisons meant more prison jobs and promises of economic windfalls for poor rural communities where giant concrete carceral behemoths were built. More prisons required more bodies and souls to inhabit the cages under construction. To acquire more bodies and souls, new and harsher laws and sentences targeting the poor, disenfranchised, dispossessed, and most radically discriminated against populations were created, ushering in the age of mass incarceration. The United States boasts a quarter of the world's incarcerated population. What transpires within the walls, electric fences, and razor wire of this country's penitentiaries is largely unseen, unknown, and hidden beneath a dark cloak of secrecy. In addition, mass incarceration in the United States shows stark racial disparities. Although Black Americans make up about 12–13% of the U.S. population, they account for roughly one-third of the incarcerated population. Black adults are imprisoned at rates about five times higher than white adults, reflecting long-standing inequalities in policing, sentencing, and social conditions. These disparities highlight how the criminal justice system disproportionately impacts communities of color. In late 2022, David Greenwald of The People's Vanguard of Davis, a social justice driven civic journalism watchdog .org, founded VIP (Vanguard Incarcerated Press) along with a few incarcerated writers, activists, and journalists in order to present an unfiltered look behind the walls. In 2023, I was approached to join this effort as Editorial Director of VIP, a position both demanding and exhilarating, important and essential. My years as a social justice activist, advocate, and educator, including in-prison teaching, mentoring, and advising, allow an intimate understanding of the dire need for free expression of the voices of those inhabiting the cloistered confines of U.S. carceral facilities. Within the pages of VIP, incarcerated writers call out from their cages, bleeding words onto the pages to share with the world their grief, anger, sorrow, remorse, love, hopes, and dreams of a world united toward the abolition of a carceral state.