Behind the Number

Writing from inside — daily life, family, food, mental health, and everything in between. Unfiltered, by other humans.

Behind every inmate number, there is a person.

That’s the starting point for a new blog TJ is writing from inside — first-person accounts of what daily life behind the wall actually looks like. Not a debate about whether prisons should exist. Not a complaint. Just an honest window into the day-to-day: the people who probably shouldn’t be there, the people who probably shouldn’t be released, and everything in between.

TJ’s goal is simple — bridge the gap between behind the wall and the free world, one honest post at a time.

  • Mind yo Business!!

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    Today is Saturday, October 17th, 2026. Dinner was pasta with meat sauce, green beans, roll, and cake. In prison, just like certain neighborhoods, it is…

    ≻: Mind yo Business!!
  • Bigger than Big

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    Today is Friday, October 16th, 2026. Lunch was sloppy joe with pasta salad, cake, and bread. Yesterday marked one year of these charges. Yesterday I…

    ≻: Bigger than Big
  • 10/15/2025

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    Today is Thursday, October 15th, 2026. Tonight dinner was chicken patty with BBQ sauce, potatoes, carrots, cornbread, and cake. Jail sucks every day, but some…

    ≻: 10/15/2025
Person writing in a lined journal using a blue fountain pen at a wooden desk with a cup of tea and a small potted succulent plant