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An illustration shows two torn images. In the left image, a medium-skinned man, wearing a green prison uniform, sits at a red table in a visiting room with people in the background. On the right, the image is upside down. It shows the man's parents also sitting at a red table. The mother wears a burnt orange hijab and dark green sweater, while the father wears a jade green long-sleeved buttoned-up shirt.
Life Inside September 6, 2024
A Serious Case of Prison Visit Blues
Tariq MaQbool reflects on disruptive COVID-era visitation restrictions that remain in effect at New Jersey State Prison.
By Tariq Maqbool
An illustration shows the back of a person's head and shoulders. Several panels surround the head in the background, depicting police brutality, fish in a pond, a badge, paperwork, a hand holding a donut, and a boot.
Life Inside February 10, 2023
I Write About Bad Prison Conditions. That Doesn’t Mean I Hate All Cops.
As a kid in Pakistan, police treated Tariq MaQbool like a nephew. As an adult in solitary confinement, the kindness of one New Jersey corrections officer made him feel human.
By Tariq MaQbool
Life Inside November 18, 2021
Tackling a Huge Taboo: Sexual Desire Behind Bars
On the outside, most discussions about incarceration and sexual desire are limited to exploitative “reality” shows, violent movies and terrible jokes about homosexuality and prison rape. But like all humans, we deserve some semblance of dignity.
by Tariq Maqbool
Life Inside March 4, 2021
How I Keep Hope Alive While Serving 150 Years in Prison
In those moments when I feel like a puppet tied up in strings, I draw on my Muslim faith to stay hopeful.
by Tariq Maqbool
Life Inside September 9, 2021
I’m a Pakistani-American Muslim in a Prison 5 Miles From the Twin Towers. Since 9/11, I’ve Been Treated Like the Enemy
It doesn’t matter how American I feel. The labels applied to me are “foreign,” “terrorist,” “inmate” and “other.”
by Tariq Maqbool
A group of women in tan prison uniforms sitting in a room, watching a television show.
Life Inside April 7, 2023
What I Learned From a Year of ‘Life Inside’
Publishing personal essays about the criminal justice system can be as complex as the system itself, writes engagement journalist Carla Canning.
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