Contact me at:
Ian Lockhart #R-18787
Hill Correctional Center
600 South Linwood Road
Galesburg, IL 61401

🎉 Birthday: February 10th, 1976

📯 Ian is allowed to receive:
– No limit to photos per envelope
– No limit to papers per envelope
– Postcards/Greeting cards
(Do not use markers, highlighters, or color pencils.)
Ian can also be reached via Corrlinks.

Ian says:
Greetings from the land of the forgotten! (Or, land of the “worthless”, depending on your politics.)
Thank you for making the conscious decision of choosing to dedicate a moment of your time to read what it is I, of all people, have to say. Living under “it” for over half of my life, I’m fully aware of the “shadow” my current circumstances cast over me and I’m truly grateful for not just the platform, but for those of you that choose to “see” ME in this moment.

If I were to sum up in short form the “circumstances” in which I currently live it would be: America, Incarceration and heavy melanated skin. Despite the complications of each, I “live” nonetheless. It’s my circumstances that continues to inevitably shaped me in all areas of my life. I’m still growing and I am the most consistent, ever changing, predictable, irregular but trusted undependable entity known to all entities. Yeees, I am a Human Being who happens to be alive and well despite OTHERS view point of my circumstances.

I am currently attempting to reawaken my old desire for writing. There was a time I actually felt the need to write and from 2001 to the year 2014 I had completed 2 hand-written manuscripts (one was a work of fiction and the other nonfiction). Poems flowed out of me daily! To that point in my life (2014) I had been incarcerated for about 13,5 years and had accumulated about 13,5 years worth of material. I had plans, hopes and dreams of one day sharing the produce of my mind. The fruits of my labor continuously blew my mind, shocking me with abilities, styles and word play I never knew existed within me. All of a sudden, my life took another turn landing me in a prison within a prison.

This new prison was called solitary confinement also known as administrative detention. I remained in this status for 10 years straight from 2014-2024. The literal context of being in this “prison within a prison” afforded me absolutely no human contact and introduced me to an aspect of the system clearly designed with the intent of destroying the human mind. Entering this place came with a lot of losses. I lots all of my property (it was most likely stolen by prison guards), including everything I’ve ever written, my fiance and best friend among many other things. That experience made it almost impossible to create or recreate anything considered art on any level. I tried, but everything seemed diluted and I felt ashamed of ow stupid and weak my writings sounded.

2024 I was released from solitary confinement back into the general population and to make a long story short, I think that I’m ready to share my thoughts. Although I don’t write as much as I once did or have the enthusiasm I once had for writing, the desire to be heard, felt and/or seen has only grown. The more I come to understand myself the more I desire for others to do the same.

Today, September 2025, I am in a medium security institution. After spending the last 24.5 years bouncing around from one maximum security institution to another I’ve been given an “opportunity”. Hopefully this has an impact on my ability to express myself through poetry and segments of “real talk.” Here on Colors On Concrete I will publish my writings (artistic thoughts) irregardless of my personal feelings about them. There will be no overthinking things, no second guessing or rewriting, just pure uncut me. These first 6 poems, I hope, serve as a proper introduction to all that’s coming next.

Please, feel free to reach out to me with any comments (good or bad) questions or ideas. I’ll always read your thoughts, reflect and respond as soon as I possibly can. My lines of communication are wide open. Whether through snail mail, texting through the messaging service (Corrlinks) phone calls (which I’ll pay for) video visits or contact in person, all options are open. Thanks for stopping here, Peace!

• TIME
• THE GAME OF LIFE
• BLINDED BY PAIN
• POINTLESS CURIOSITY
• THE VOICE OF AN ANGEL
• FREEDOM