In this edition: inside a cyberscam compound, behind bars but ahead of the times, up into the beyond, away from home, and under the night sky.
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The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending stories by Brenna Ehrlich, Yiyun Li, Claire L. Evans, Nicholas Casey, and Kent Russell.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending stories from Mariana Serapicos, Camille Bromley, Devon Fredericksen, Georgia Brown, and Sarah Golibart Gorman.
In Harm’s Way
“How decades-old decisions to build two California prisons in a dry lakebed and a chaotic climate left 8,000 incarcerated people at risk.”
When Wizards and Orcs Came to Death Row
“’I’m in,’ Wardlow said. And so Arthaxx, his character, opened his eyes.”
The Tale of the Early-Round KO of Muhammad Ali’s Champburger
“Ali may have continued to get his free burgers, but he never did get those hundreds of locations.”
Finding Jordan Neely
“He had places he belonged and people looking out for him. How did he end up dying, alone, at the hands of a stranger?”
Borstal Boys
“A personal history of the borstal in Britain: a century of incarcerated children.”
Frank Smith Was Locked Up for Eight Decades. At 98, What Would It Mean to Be Free?
“Likely the longest-serving prisoner in America, he’s been paroled into a Connecticut nursing home. But he’s still not out.”
What Happened to the Women Prisoners at Hickman’s Farms
“During the pandemic, in an unheard-of experiment, incarcerated women in Arizona were moved to a prison camp on a multimillion-dollar private farm, where hazardous, meagerly paid work changed their lives forever.”

