Writing Center for Incarcerated Writers

Our Story

Unbound Authors is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting incarcerated writers across Colorado. Our mission is to provide opportunities for incarcerated writers to imagine themselves as storytellers and sources of authentic knowledge, regardless of perceived skill, legal status, or formal training.

Founded in March 2023 by co-founders Dr. Libby Catchings and returning citizen JoyBelle Phelan, Unbound Authors is approved as a volunteer program within the Colorado Department of Corrections. We currently provide volunteer-led in-person Writers Mentoring Labs at eight facilities (Buena Vista, Denver complex, Fremont, La Vista, Rifle, Skyline, and Sterling. We also provide asynchronous feedback to facilities where we are not yet providing in-person programming.

For 2025, we're working on producing an anthology and relaunching a statewide prison newspaper, partnering with Pollen Initiative, which went dark when ‘The Inside Report’ shuttered in 2023.

We hope you'll join us in our vision to build a robust network of schools, nonprofits, publications, and community writing practitioners that supports system-impacted writers across Colorado and beyond.  Every donation we receive will fund basic writing supplies for our participants, and all arts programming reduces recidivism, empowers individuals to reclaim their lives, and builds public awareness of issues relating to incarceration and its collateral consequences.