Blogging from jail – Black Market Arts

Several months ago, some friends of mine told me about a story of a guy, a guy called Dante, who was doing a favour for a friend which involved holding drugs and ended up in a bust.

Dante is quite an incredible guy, he’s insanely creative, writes like a genius and is an outstanding father. We all make mistakes, this was his one and he’s paying for it, big time. I learnt about Dante before he was sentenced, whilst he was still a huge player on Reddit.com and whilst he was drawing designs for Redditors for free. I remember reading the story about his bust and hearing that he was going to serve a huge number of years in jail. I remember reading his words about the one thing he cared about most, his child. And I remember thinking to myself.. that’s a really tough break.

Dante was sentenced to a fraction of the years he was expecting. A huge number of people told him to run, but he refused to and said he had to face up to what he did. I’m pleased that his sentence was a lot less, because when you read his words and get to know him, you can tell that he’s a really good guy at heart, who’s just had some unlucky experiences.

“On June 16th, 2010, I was sentenced to serve 28 months in a Federal Penitentiary, for possessing with intent to distribute a Class A narcotic.”

Before Dante started serving, he spoke to a number of Redditors and organised a website for himself as well as a plan which would enable him to send letters to someone, who would blog them on behalf of him and that’s exactly what has happened! His website, Black Market Arts is up and running, actually has been for quite some time, and his author updates the site whenever a letter is sent. Big up to the Reddit for providing a platform with people who care!

I’ve been blogging for over a decade and I’ve seen some pretty awesome setups, but this is by far one of the most amazing ones. How many of you have read a blog by someone who is serving time in a prison? I highly doubt many of you have! You get a look into his life, what goes on in jail and what he does to occupy his time. His writing is anything short of incredible and the pictures he draws are worth more than a thousand words.

Dante’s got just over 636 days left of his sentence, there have been really tough times – look for his article about dental care inside the prison, and there have been some good times – where he reflects on his life relative to the prisoners around him.

His strength is an inspiration.