NOTES FROM THE PEN
Creative Writing Pieces Written By Robert Caldwell-Kim (BC Kim)
Bobby Caldwell-Kim: Notes From The Pen
First things first…
You can find our podcast, Notes from the Pen, on all platforms, shooting off at the mouth about prison, life, and all our unsolicited opinions. Come listen to a crew of childhood friends, fellow inmates, and recently-freed friends become pebbles in the shoe of the prison industrial complex.
You can start from Episode 1, and watch the boys get their feet wet in the podcasting world, or skip through their stories in any order. Not sure where to start? The NFTP crew recommends episodes 6, 9, and 52 as a good starting point. Search for Notes From The Pen on your favorite platform.
On Twitter? So is @notesfromthepen, where Mama C shares Bobby’s thoughts, jokes, and writings from a cell in Michigan.
We can also be found on Instagram, @notesfromthepen, where you can find snippets, and writing excerpts.
When we created this website Bobby was midway in his 12+ prison bit, and in October of 2025 he was released. Please stay tuned as we update and create new posts.
Update: The day Bobby was released he opened for Doug Stanhope. It’s currently available on Patreon but soon to be released on YouTube so keep checking back.
Patreon Link:
A Thank-you From Mama C
I’d like to thank everyone that has supported us throughout the years. It is your generosity that has enabled us to carry on.
When this project started, this human experience behind bars, I knew how important it was to share the failures of mass incarceration, and give a realistic view of what it is to be incarcerated. Over the years it’s grown from simple social media platforms, to this website, and now there’s a podcast. Our stories, family members, inmates, and formerly incarcerated, are being heard. All along the way so many people have reach offering their support, and for that we are truly grateful.
These social media platforms are making a difference. We’re creating the emotional connection needed for prison reform, and along the way we’re helping so many people.
Thank-you for being a part of our journey. We love you guys!
And the issue at hand: mass incarceration
A note from Mama C, the woman behind the curtain, who has been fighting Michigan’s archaic sentencing for years
Thoughts and solutions are shared on why we fail with mass incarceration. You get to hear it all. The sad, ugly, enlightening, truthful, funny, real time…ok ok ok. You get the idea by now. It’s told in real time from my son, and if you’ve stuck around this long, then you too will: learn, laugh, cry, and rethink what it’s like to be in prison, and how much it effects families & loved ones. We keep it real by sharing what life is really like behind bars; not what you see on the big screen, or TV. You’ll see and hear gut wrenching sadness, loneliness, pain, sorrow, and even some lightheartedness. We’ve learned that if you don’t smile or laugh you end up crying all the time, so we try to inject humor when we can.
America uses prison to treat people with drug addiction, mental illness, homelessness, poverty, and depression. The big problem with that approach is there’s no treatment! Inmates are often released worse off than when they went in. That’s bad for everyone when that happens. We’re not saying prisons aren’t needed, just saying not like this.
So this website is not only to give my son hope during his time behind bars, but to use it as a platform for change. Our goal is to seek changes one tweet, one letter, and one phone call at a time.
The U.S. leads countries worldwide in incarcerations per 100 thousand of population. Check out the 2024 stats.