Sentenced to life in a black hole

Alexandre Paula. Asymmetric cell division in a live zebrafish embryo. 2015. Wellcome Collection.

Editor’s note:

In the essays of Danny Thomas and dave rich, the carceral system is not just a backdrop — it is a living force, described with the weight and destructiveness of a natural disaster. For both authors, incarceration is a gravitational pull, a storm, a consuming darkness. Yet in this space, particular across state lines between Virginia and Tennessee, they pursue education not only as self-betterment, but as a radical act of resistance and self-definition.

In The Speed of Opportunity & the Black Hole of Carceral Spaces, dave rich likens the prison industrial complex to a cosmic force:

“… the vacuum that is the prison industrial complex (PIC) have mostly consumed those opportunities; their light has, thus far, failed to escape its gravitational field. Of a truth, I live in the wake of a collapsed star of dreams that now threatens to add me to its emptiness.”

Danny Thomas, in describing the moment of his sentencing, offers a parallel metaphor:

 “… as if I was trapped in the eye of a storm.” 

These images frame prison as unnatural and inevitable, a disaster built by policy, profit, and history. Yet, both writers resist the pull. Their essays are testaments to choosing education for survival, autonomy, and transformation.

Despite facing crushing economic constraints—most incarcerated workers earn less than $1.50 an hour—both dave and Danny found ways to invest in their own education. In Tennessee, dave critiques the exploitative “inmate pay scale” and the prohibitive cost of commissary items. In Virginia, Danny was forced to abandon his initial academic program due to lack of financial access. Still, neither stopped learning. 

Their writing is thick with lyricism, urgency, and intellectual ancestry, citing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Antonio Gramsci, and Michael Eric Dyson. Danny embraces the role of “rhetorical acrobat”; dave writes with precision and rhythm in his poetry and prose. Both are deeply invested in not only their own liberation but in helping shape the future of others.

Danny and dave are transforming their lengthy sentences into investments in the next generation. Danny has become a jailhouse lawyer, a peer recovery specialist, a parent, and an advocate for generational change. Drawing on Gramsci’s writings during imprisonment, he writes of devoting himself “intensely and systematically” to study to anchor his purpose. Similarly, dave has founded the Brothers’ HEARTS Initiative, a mentorship program for incarcerated men serving long sentences to guide their younger peers entering the system. In his poem Indomitable, The Movement, dave writes: 

And now the fiery torch I bear with pride, 

To light the candles of the imprisoned “others”

To espouse the change that resides inside

And restore humanity to my younger brothers.

Danny and dave’s journeys complicate the common narratives of incarceration. They refuse to be defined by the state, using education to create identity, community, and purpose in a system designed to erase all three.

As dave writes, “I thought education would make life more tolerable. It has not.” Instead, it’s made it nearly impossible to “remain ignorant” – to the impact of incarceration, systemic injustice, economic disparity, saviorism – without wanting to take action. Danny and dave are modeling how to wrestle with the distinctly unpleasant gravity that comes with unlearning and transformation.

JSTOR Access in Prison Second Chance Month essay submissions from Danny Thomas and dave rich

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The opinions and views expressed in these recordings, art, and posts are those of the authors and do not represent, reflect, or imply endorsement by ITHAKA.

About the authors and editor:

Danny Thomas
Danny Thomas 1054249, Greensville Correctional (Virginia). I currently work as a peer recovery specialist for the Residential Illicit Drug Use Program (RIDUP) at Greensville Correctional Center in Virginia. I am a jailhouse lawyer and active member of NYU’s/Berustin Institute for Human Rights Jailhouse Lawyer Initiative. I’m also published writing with NYU’s review of law and social change, Virginia Prison Justice Network, Virginia Defender, The Unlocked Project and currently a reporter for The Spotlight Newsletter at Greensville Correctional. I have an amazing son Devin Ray Thomas and two grandchildren Nolani and Jaden. I am also a veteran of the United States ARMY. Also work as a student teacher for The Henry George Academy.

dave rich
dave rich is a currently incarcerated scholar and social entrepreneur. He is nearing the completion of his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Belmont University and holds several certifications as a personal trainer from the International Sports Science Association (ISSA). He is the Co-founder and leader of the peer-to-peer mentoring organization the Brothers’ HEARTS Initiative where men with lengthy sentences provide mentoring services to young persons in prison. As to his incarceration, dave rich is now in the 15 years of his sentence of Life plus 224 years for his participation in a 2010 shoot-out that left an innocent bystander mortally wounded. Knowing he cannot undo the harm he participated in when he was 20 years old, dave rich labors to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline through his mentoring and published writings. For his labors he has positioned himself as a prime candidate for an Executive Clemency in the state of Tennessee. To learn more of dave rich and his labors and to sign his petition in support of him being granted Clemency please visit his website at: https://indomitablebydaverich.wordpress.com/

Grace Cope is a designer and researcher at JSTOR Access in Prison and JSTOR Labs who works to build more accessible and intuitive user experiences. Continuously informed by art, collective storytelling, and political education, Grace teaches Jewish songs in carceral spaces.