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TommyLee Dean

  • By: Malik Washington | Destination Freedom Media Group in Partnership with The Davis Vanguard

MEET THE WRITER

TommyLee Dean is a writer whose work reflects transformation, self-examination, and the complicated realities of life behind prison walls. Incarcerated for much of his adult life, Dean began to seriously redirect his life during his current period of incarceration, which began in 2007. Writing became both a creative outlet and a means of confronting his past, examining his choices, and imagining a different future.

Known for an affinity for horror and the extreme, Dean’s writing ranges from dark fiction and poetry to essays and personal reflections. His literary interests have continued to expand, including his work as an editor for Messenger Quarterly, a prison newspaper.

Through Voices From Inside, Dean offers readers something incarceration too often obscures: the human being behind the prison number—a person capable of reflection, creativity, accountability, and change.

Personal Narrative · Reflection · Transformation

Writings

Coming Soon!

Publications From Other Organizations

Raw Crime: A Prison Audio Series

Tommy Lee Dean Humans of San Quentin
Audio Interview

Listen to Interview

Poetry by Tommy Lee

Tommy Lee Dean
Humans of San Quentin
Poetry - July 8, 2025

Read Poetry

Sensationalize

Tommy Lee Dean
Humans of San Quentin
Personal Reflection · September 25, 2025

Read Story
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Malik Washington is an investigative journalist, U.S. Army veteran, and CEO of Destination Freedom Media Group, which he co-founded with Gale Washington. Destination Freedom Media Group, an independent nonprofit newsroom dedicated to accountability reporting at the intersection of civil rights, public integrity, disability justice, structural accountability within American institutions, and community survival.

He previously served as Editor-in-Chief of the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper (2020–2021) and has been a published journalist for over 14 years.

With journalist Maura Corkery, he is co-author of The Unquiet Resignation, an investigative series on the San Francisco Unified School District produced in partnership with The Davis Vanguard.

His “Price of Being Poor” series — also produced in partnership with The Davis Vanguard — is the most sustained recent accounting of privatized public housing in San Francisco  documenting the conditions at Alice Griffith Apartments that culminated in San Francisco’s first-of-its-kind code-enforcement settlement of August 26, 2026.

His work focuses on government power, criminal justice, environmental justice, and the human consequences of policy decisions too often insulated from public scrutiny. Washington’s reporting amplifies the voices of impacted communities while insisting on documentary evidence, transparency, and the unvarnished truth—especially when institutions demand silence.

His work appears on platforms such as Muck Rack, examining the intersection of justice, governance, and community.

You can reach him via email: mwashington2059@gmail.com or call him at (719) 715-9592.

Suggestions or leads on stories are always welcome.

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