Shaka Senghor
Writer and Criminal Justice Activist
In 1991, Shaka Senghor pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and spent the next 19 years behind bars, seven of them in solitary confinement. Today, Senghor has become a vocal advocate for prison reform, and tackling the problem of mass incarceration, in all its complex ugliness, head on. Senghor’s memoir, Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison, was released in March 2016 and debuted on The New York Times Best Seller List as well as The Washington Post Best Seller List.
![A man with dreadlocks wearing a detroit tigers cap.](https://bigthink.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Shaka-Senghor-Profile-01.jpg?w=512&h=512&crop=1)
“I was incarcerated well before I was in prison and I was free before the gates of prison opened up and let me out.”
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“Resilience” is being able to withstand hardship; “antifragility” goes one step further.
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11 min
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Join Big Think Live for a discussion with human rights advocate and best-selling author Shaka Senghor. Learn how the COVID-19 outbreak is affecting the prison population and why it has […]
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The formula for resilience? Hope, grit, and amnesia.
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Who you let into your mental space matters.
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6 min
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Here’s how the 13th Amendment allows companies make a dubious profit off the backs of prisoners.
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Shaka spent nearly two decades in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder, and spent 7 of those years in solitary confinement. But he says that it’s life after prison that can be much more shocking.
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