James Kilgore is a formerly incarcerated activist and author based in Urbana, Illinois. He directs the Challenging E-Carceration project for MediaJustice and is also a director of FirstFollowers Reentry Program in his home community. He is a frequent contributor to Truthout and the author of Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People’s Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time, a National Book Foundation Social Justice award winner in 2019. He tweets @waazn1.