Aurora International Publishing recognizes the importance of community-based organizations, ministries, advocacy groups, writing resources, journalism platforms, education programs, arts programs, book-access projects, policy organizations, and practical support networks that serve incarcerated individuals, justice-impacted families, and communities working toward reintegration, accountability, dignity, and long-term change.
The organizations and resources listed here are included because their work connects with AIP’s mission areas, including incarcerated-author support, justice-impacted communities, prison ministry, education, reentry, family stability, writing development, independent journalism, creative expression, book access, research, policy awareness, and community transformation.
Spiritual, Community, and Reentry Support
Crow Gleann Prison Ministry
Crow Gleann Prison Ministry is a Pagan ministry connected to the wider Crow Gleann community. The ministry supports incarcerated individuals and members of the Pagan and Wiccan community through spiritual support, religious services, rites of passage, peer connection, and educational programming.
Led by High Priestess Lady Crow, the ministry helps maintain connection and support for Pagans impacted by incarceration and for those seeking spiritual community while navigating prison, reentry, or family separation.
Tranquil Earth Alliance
Tranquil Earth Alliance is a grassroots initiative founded by DeAngelo Capone and Sara Heise. TEA is dedicated to advancing long-term peace through environmental sustainability, human dignity, community connection, criminal justice reform, and practical support for justice-impacted people.
TEA’s work connects education, advocacy, reentry support, restorative justice, and community-building efforts with the goal of strengthening stable, accountable, and connected communities.
Writing, Publishing, Arts, and Journalism Resources
Prison Journalism Project
Prison Journalism Project is an independent nonprofit journalism organization that trains incarcerated writers and publishes stories from inside prison. It is a useful resource for writers interested in journalism, essays, firsthand accounts, and public storytelling connected to incarceration.
Truthout
Truthout is a nonprofit news organization focused on independent reporting and commentary across social justice issues. It may be useful for readers looking for justice-related reporting, prison and policing coverage, abolition-related analysis, and public-interest journalism.
Justice Arts Coalition
Justice Arts Coalition connects artists impacted by the criminal legal system with creative communities and uses art, exhibitions, advocacy, and public engagement to support justice-impacted artists.
American Prison Writing Archive
The American Prison Writing Archive is a digital archive of first-person prison writing. It preserves witness, testimony, essays, and reflections from incarcerated and formerly incarcerated writers.
InsideOUT Writers
InsideOUT Writers uses creative writing as a tool for personal expression, transformation, and reintegration support for currently and formerly incarcerated youth and young adults.
Rehabilitation Through the Arts
Rehabilitation Through the Arts uses theater, dance, music, creative writing, and visual arts to help people in prison develop life skills, confidence, and community connection.
Drama Club
Drama Club supports youth who are incarcerated or court-involved by creating space for expression, growth, confidence, and community through improv and theater-based programming.
The Marshall Project
The Marshall Project is a nonprofit newsroom covering the U.S. criminal justice system through investigations, reporting, data journalism, and public-interest storytelling.
Books, Libraries, Education, and Technology
Freedom Reads
Freedom Reads brings curated libraries into prison spaces, creating access to books, conversation, and community inside carceral settings.
Prison Book Program
Prison Book Program sends books to incarcerated readers and supports access to reading materials across prisons and jails.
Bard Prison Initiative
Bard Prison Initiative expands access to rigorous liberal arts education in prison and supports college-in-prison work, advocacy, leadership, and reentry pathways.
Mount Tamalpais College
Mount Tamalpais College is an independent liberal arts college connected to higher education for incarcerated students, with a focus on academic quality and access.
The Last Mile
The Last Mile provides education and technology training for justice-impacted people, with a focus on opportunity, professional skill development, and reentry potential.
Policy, Research, and Justice-System Information
Vera Institute of Justice
Vera Institute of Justice is a national organization focused on transforming criminal justice and immigration systems through research, policy work, partnerships, and advocacy.
Prison Policy Initiative
Prison Policy Initiative is a nonpartisan research and advocacy organization that publishes data, reports, and analysis on mass criminalization and incarceration policy.
PEN America Resources
PEN America offers several resources and programs related to incarcerated writers. These links are provided as outside resources. AIP is not affiliated with PEN America unless a separate relationship is clearly stated.
Prison and Justice Writing
PEN America’s main program page for writing connected to incarceration, prison writing, justice, and literary community.
Annual Prison Writing Awards
A PEN America writing opportunity connected to poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama by incarcerated writers.
Prison Writing Mentorship Program
A PEN America mentorship resource for adult writers who are incarcerated in prisons, jails, and detention centers.
Incarcerated Writers Bureau
A PEN America resource with ethical considerations, best practices, writer profiles, and opportunity information connected to incarcerated writers.
Freewrite Curricula
A PEN America writing resource designed to support incarcerated writers in community, peer review, editing, and publication preparation.
Works of Justice
A PEN America series connected to prison writing, justice, writers, artists, advocacy, and public conversation around incarceration.
Writing and Publishing Readiness
This section is for writers, families, supporters, and community contacts looking for practical writing and publishing resources connected to incarceration or justice-system involvement. It is informational only. AIP cannot accept inquiries, manuscript submissions, article submissions, or project requests on behalf of an incarcerated writer unless the writer has clearly authorized that communication and there is a practical, appropriate way to verify and continue the conversation.
Before contacting any publisher, editor, journalism outlet, arts organization, education program, or outside resource, the strongest first step is usually to organize the writing, prepare a clear project summary, confirm the writer’s permission, and review the outside organization’s submission rules carefully.
Writing preparation
- Keep dated drafts when possible
- Write in clear sections, chapters, poems, essays, lessons, articles, or journal entries
- Identify the purpose of the work and the reader it is meant to serve
- Save copies of typed pages, handwritten pages, outlines, permissions, correspondence, and revision notes when possible
- Work toward a complete manuscript, article, collection, workbook, guide, or proposal rather than scattered pages without context
Publishing and media readiness
- Know the title or working title
- Know the form of the work, such as memoir, poetry, essay, article, op-ed, workbook, guide, spiritual writing, fiction, or art
- Know whether the manuscript or article is complete, partly drafted, or still only an idea
- Know the approximate page count or word count
- Know who the intended reader is and why the work matters
- Confirm whether the writer can receive and respond to revision notes
Important permission reminder
If you are helping an incarcerated writer, make sure the writer has directly asked for that help and understands what information may be shared. Do not submit a writer’s name, manuscript, article, personal story, prison details, legal details, or contact information without clear permission from the writer.
Shared Areas of Focus
- Support for incarcerated and justice-impacted individuals
- Education, resource development, writing development, journalism, arts programming, and community-based learning
- Reentry, accountability, family stability, literacy, and personal development
- Spiritual, cultural, media, educational, and practical support for underserved communities
- Long-term community transformation through responsible action
Suggest a Resource or Organization
If your organization works with incarcerated individuals, justice-impacted families, reentry support, education, restorative justice, prison ministry, writing development, journalism, arts programming, book access, research, or community-based programming, you may contact AIP for review. Inclusion depends on mission fit, relevance, and available capacity.
This contact option is for public resources, organizations, journalism outlets, arts programs, education programs, book-access projects, and community programs. It should not be used to submit a manuscript, article, personal story, legal matter, prison details, or inquiry on behalf of an incarcerated writer without the writer’s clear authorization.