From Offender to Author. From Prison to Profession.
Issue #5: Incarcerated students are learning how to write and self-publish compelling novels
“The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned. We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated.” —Bryan Stevenson
Letter from the Founder
Dear Readers,
I’ve been gone for a while, and I want to say thank you for your patience while I took some time off to rest and rework the future of Crime & Compassion Inc. (Yep, we’re an inc. now!)
Some big, big, big things have happened, and now I can tell you what I’ve been up to!
Gotta start with the most exciting news first:
We are now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit!
I hired Oklahoma Nonprofit Solutions to handle my IRS filing for becoming a registered nonprofit. Talk about a huge leap! These last several months have been focused on filling out lots of paperwork, completing board training, reading manuals, and so much more. By becoming a registered nonprofit, more doors can be opened for the incarcerated people we work with. It was a surreal moment holding the IRS approval letter in my hands! I’m beyond grateful.
We have a very specific mission!
Literature and compassion are transformative forces, especially when combined for incarcerated individuals. For women at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in McLoud, Oklahoma, writing a book is now an achievable dream through the Writers Guild. This advanced fiction class empowers offenders to accomplish a remarkable feat: write and publish a full-length novel.
Currently, there are 13 students in the class, with more starting in May. Completion of the class means the student has written, rewritten, and published a novel. Thanks to self-publishing, all rights will belong to the author, not Crime & Compassion Inc. Having ownership like this ignites a different kind of hope for incarcerated individuals.
Our goals are to:
Show love and kindness toward the incarcerated
Educate offenders on writing and help bring their literature into the world through self-publishing
Train newly released offenders at the future Unbound Bookstore to ensure they have the opportunity for a career
Completely flip the narrative on the US justice system by having difficult, timely conversations through our podcast and newsletter
Educate society on why people commit the crimes they do to cultivate empathy and understanding
We have a website!
Our website is live! FINALLY! Take a look right here. You can get to know our mission, learn about our prison-writing class, support our efforts with a donation, volunteer with us, and more.
We have a board!
A nonprofit needs a board of directors, and through a ton of prayer, I am so honored to have five board members I trust wholeheartedly with the mission of Crime & Compassion Inc. You can meet the board here. (You might see some familiar faces if you’ve watched the podcast.) Every single person came into my life for this reason, I truly believe that. We also have “On the Inside” board members who help us with the Writers Guild.
We have a podcast (again)!
The Crime & Compassion podcast took a long break, but we’re back in action with episode 6 coming soon, as we’re contracting someone to handle the editing. Frankly, the sound quality has been driving me nuts, and I’m a perfectionist, so I want to present the absolute best for you all. But guess what? I don’t actually know how to edit podcasts! So it’ll be wonderful to have a professional on board.
If you have an interest in being on the show, or would like to recommend a guest, go here.
We have volunteers!
C&C officially has two volunteers at the women’s prison for the Writers Guild class! If you’re interested in getting involved, let me know here. There are opportunities to help inside and outside of the prison. We need lots of help, because we’re starting Writers Guild Beginners in May!
(If your heart just nudged you when reading about our need for volunteers, answer the call. You won’t regret it. It will change your life.)
But we need you.
Help Incarcerated People Hold Their Books in Their Hands
We do more than just teach writing at Mabel Bassett Correctional—we help incarcerated students become authors. Through our novel-writing program, the Writers Guild, these women not only craft compelling stories but also have the opportunity to self-publish their work and own their novels. These students will hold their books in their hands for the first time, a moment of personal triumph they’ll carry with them forever.
But self-publishing comes with costs. That’s where you come in, if you feel called to do so.
The path to self-publishing involves super-important steps—cover design, formatting, printing, etc. Every donation, large or small, directly supports these women in making their dream of becoming published authors a reality.
For so many of these students, this program is a chance to rebuild their lives, to see their worth, and to create a legacy that isn’t defined by their past mistakes.
By supporting Crime & Compassion Inc., you’re giving these students an opportunity to change the narrative of their lives.
Join us in offering these women a chance at redemption, a voice through their writing, and the joy of seeing their novels shared with the world.
Thank you so much for believing in what we do. Thank you for the patience, the support, the love. All of it.
Your Bleeding Heart,
Shayla Hale
Executive Director, Crime & Compassion Inc.
P.S. Crimeandcompassion.com is our nonprofit’s website. But what you’re reading now—our Substack—is where we publish our podcast and newsletter. Anyone can have access! But Substack allows paid subscribers, which you can do for $5/month if you’d like. This contribution goes directly into our nonprofit to help with podcast costs.
If you love the social, follow us! I’m getting back into the groove of posting across these platforms:
The Official Oklahoma Death Row Inmate List [Updated Feb. 6, 2025]
A lot has happened in my home state with the death penalty: 4 men were executed in 2024, 1 man had his death sentence commuted, and 1 woman saw a historic ruling in her case from the US Supreme Court. Read here.
5 Quick Things
I’m reading . . . Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. Why did I wait so long to read this? It is excellent. It’s obvious from the moment he’s introduced that Jeff Goldblum was born to play Dr. Ian Malcolm.
I’m listening to . . . an audiobook called Nonprofit Board Success by James Ruell, which has been pretty good so far. On the podcast side, I recently finished Sea of Lies by Uncover, which was the plot-twistiest-plot-twist of a podcast I’ve listened to in a while.
I’m watching . . . Severance and Yellowjackets. I can’t believe the season finales are back-to-back this week.
I’m teaching . . . Lesson 16: Enter the World of Publishing. This Sunday, we’ll have class in the prison, and we get to dive into the inner workings of self-publishing.
I’m learning . . . about grants and fundraising. I don’t have experience in either, so I’m trying to soak up all I can. If you have any recommended resources for me, please send my way!
After a 14-year career in publishing, Shayla Hale said goodbye to her authors so she could advocate for the incarcerated. Now a bleeding heart, she teaches writing classes at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in McLoud. She also enjoyed two years as a volunteer chaplain at Oklahoma County Jail.
Shayla is the founder and executive director of Crime & Compassion Inc.,
a nonprofit that gives incarcerated individuals the tools to become authors, empowering those in and out of prison to cultivate meaningful work opportunities.
Her classes on the inside encourage creativity and confidence, and her podcast and newsletter shine a bright light on incarceration. Her heart’s desires are to unconditionally love the incarcerated, to help them bring their books into the world, and to fight with and for those affected by the US justice system.
I absolutely love what you are doing and you have my financial and emotional support.