Letter to My Teenage Self: An Incarcerated Man Interrogates the Person He Once Was

From his prison cell in Washington state, Hector Ortiz reexamines the traumas, hardships and bad choices that led to his lengthy sentence—and ultimately taught him about the man he needed to be.

When journalist Christopher Blackwell (winner of our 2023 Memoir Prize), first shared this piece with me — which is part of a larger collection he’s co-editing — I had no idea what to expect. By the time I was through, I realized I hadn’t moved an inch since I’d begun reading and I was sobbing. I’ve been drawn to stories about people surviving in prison for years, for a million reasons, but chief among them because I worry that people often forget what Hector shows us so beautifully here: that people in prison are real people with stories that deserve to be told. I also think it’s important to be reminded that people end up in prison for many, many reasons. Stories like these help bring that to light, and I’m so happy to get to share this one with you. Without further ado, Hector’s story in Hector’s words.

—Jesse Sposato, executive editor

Illustration by Lynne Hardy

Hector,

Hey, man! Kinda weird, but I’m writing to you as your older self. Right now, we’re 41 years old. We’ve been sittin…