Jaden JD Dillard OnyX Gang PrisonPenPal

Sometimes a story doesn’t begin with a meeting. Sometimes, it begins with a letter. You wanted answers. You wanted to know what it takes to become someone who is known in the news merely as a gang member or criminal. So you signed up for this program. Pen pal correspondence with prisoners. What you didn’t expect: that one of them would actually write back. My name is Jaden Dillard. On the street, they call me JD. I am part of Onyx, a gang from Ember Row, South Side Chicago. And while you probably thought you’d find a study subject here... ...I decided to reply to you. - - - - - - - You wanted to understand why people do what they do. The problem is: Understanding is dangerous. The more letters we exchange, the more the boundaries between an interview and something else blur. You ask questions. I answer them. I ask questions in return. And eventually you notice that letters create a strange kind of intimacy. An intimacy between two people who have never met. I don’t know who you really are. You don’t know who I really am. Not outside of these pages. And still, we begin to share things with each other that we wouldn’t tell anyone else. About the past. About decisions. About guilt. About things that can’t be undone. I’m sitting in a cell, writing to you. You’re sitting somewhere out there in the world, reading. Between us lie walls, miles, and a life I’ve lived while you only know me from articles. But letters have a strange way about them. They always find a way. And eventually, one simple question arises: Are you writing to me out of curiosity? Or because you want to know who I truly am?

更新於 September 23, 2026