White-Collar Journal is a space for honest stories about incarceration, justice, and redemption. These stories are drawn from my personal experience, reflecting on what it means to fall, reckon with who you are, and begin again.
Whether the justice system directly impacts you, you are curious about the hidden lives inside it, or you are drawn to stories of ethical reckoning and resilience, this publication is for you.
Subscribing is free. You're invited to read, comment, share, or simply follow along. This is the beginning of a conversation I’ve waited years to have—and your presence here matters.
These posts are part of a larger memoir project in progress, and this journal is one way to bring readers into that journey in real time. Thank you for being here.
WHITE COLLAR JOURNAL: Posting schedule
Sundays: PRISON CAMP: a serialized weekly narrative of my time in a federal prison camp. New entries every Sunday.
Wednesdays: JUSTICE NOTES: Essays on criminal justice reform from the inside out: sentencing, reentry, restitution, and the enduring stigma of incarceration. These reflections explore how justice might appear differently when shaped by those who have experienced its consequences.
Thursdays: NOTES FROM EXISLE: Mid-week log/verse entries—short, lyrical reflections written each morning from my bunk. New entries every Thursday.
Why I Write
When I entered prison, my goal was to understand the genesis of my criminality, which perhaps had been lurking since the day I stole $20 from my grandmother’s purse at thirteen years old. It’s difficult to find answers there. Prison is a kind of Dantesque dark dream, while the tactile world plays out in unfamiliar and confusing rhythms. I lived among one hundred other inmates that was more wilderness than community. There is nothing more solitary than living among the exiled. I entered prison as a ghost and returned an apparition, no closer to the answer and still searching in my own dark world.
The Journal
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Afilliations
John DiMenna is also a member of the White Collar Support Group, a non-profit organization that supports those impacted by the criminal justice system.
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