Renaldo Hudson, an inmate at a maximum-security prison outside Chicago, initiated a writing contest in the fall of 2003, asking Illinois prisoners to reflect on the questions, "Who am I, and what can I do to be better?" Lockdown Prison Heart contains the thirty-eight personal essays submitted to that contest. These brief writings--thoughtful, angry, sorrowful, honest, regretful, meditative--allow us to hear directly from people whose voices are too often distorted or ignored by mainstream media. The proceeds from the collection will be donated to Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, a national organization composed of people who have had family members murdered--by homicide or state killings--and who work to restore communities by promoting crime prevention, opposing the death penalty, and helping victims reconstruct their lives.