Category Archives: Uncategorized

My name is Jeremy Grove, inmate #32201-171 of the Special Housing Unit at Federal Correctional Institution Edgefield. I have been in our nation’s worst punishment unit (after using a cellphone while serving a five-year sentence for a cannabis-only crime) for nearly five months. My cellmate is serving 14 months less than I am for bringingContinue reading “No, Joe. The Cannabis World Deserves More.”

For the last 16 months of my life, this has been the predominant question in the back of my mind. Always lingering there, like the ghost of the girl who got away, “Where the fuck am I?” I try to lose myself in other things, try to distract myself, but no matter what happens, thereContinue reading “Where the Fuck Am I?”

I live in a world where there is no cash, no cards, and no bank accounts. Yet there is money. It might not be a U.S. dollar, a Japanese yen, or a British pound, but it’s still currency. There is product, supply, and plenty of demand. Prison economics are easily one of the most fascinatingContinue reading “Prison Economics”

Now that I’m pretty much a full-time resident of the Special Housing Unit, I can say with authority that it’s a very different experience than being in a federal prison camp. The SHU is filled with guys who are serving long-term prison sentences, and many of these guys are simply lost in the system. They’veContinue reading “The Cycle of Struggle”

This probably comes as no surprise to you, but life is about choices. The ones you make, the ones you don’t make, and all the different paths each choice takes you down. They say choices define you as a person. Make Good Life Choices, right? Well, we can try, anyway. But there’s no guarantee thatContinue reading “PrisonBirkin”

Life in prison is a strange existence, especially in the SHU. Living in conditions worse than death row inmates for an extended period can be a true mental struggle. The only true companionship you find is with the person you share your cell with. I spent my first eleven weeks in the SHU with Mitch,Continue reading “Please, Lord, Don’t Let Me Die Here”

As I begin to write, I am nearing the end of my fifty-fifth day in the “SHU,” the Special Housing Unit, also known as solitary confinement. During these last 55 days, I have been confined in a 7 x 12 room that contains a standup shower, a bunk bed, a desk, and a sink withContinue reading “The Special Housing Unit”

“Do you believe that marijuana is a gateway drug?” This question is, by far, the most common question I’m asked by the older generation who is still unsure of what to believe when it comes to cannabis. My answer is simple, but first I’m going to dive into the details of why I believe thisContinue reading “The Hidden Gateway”

Ever wake up one morning and feel like something isn’t quite right? Nothing has happened out of the ordinary, nothing surprising or unfortunate, but something just feels off. This sense of wrongness happens often in prison, and it occurs with such frequency that it can be difficult determining the cause. Honestly, the last couple ofContinue reading “The Hardest Goodbye”

I started bartending in the downtown scene when I was 25-years-old. The establishment I ended up in was an upscale sushi restaurant that also had a late-night bar crowd on the weekends. It was an extremely popular place—they’ve been voted Best Sushi Bar by the local news for several years in a row—and they wereContinue reading “Smoke and Fuck”