The Billy Decastro Speaks Liberation Suite
First & foremost, my gratitude, for you taking the time to open this tab. That being said, this is the documentation of a journey a quarter century in the making.
It has been a journey of recognizing Self and developing a deep desire to help others navigate, what for me - and my loved ones - was a trackless jungle that I have been blessed to have survived.
Its origin is in a prison writing program. An exchange, centered on change. Having been a writer my entire life, I ‘deigned’ to take their Introduction to Creative Writing course - which I “didn't need'" - and finally found 'My Story' which turned into stor-ies, which then necessitated the writing of a book.
For a few reasons that project remains in a cloud locker. (Actually, that's a good writing topic - hang on a sec... Okay, wrote it down).
Yet, the entire process, in a (dreaded) word - Revision - opened me up to my craft being so much more.
So, when I decided on what value my writing should, could, would give the world, I find myself capable, equal to the task.
I owe a debt of gratitude to those proctors, professors, tutors, mentors - all professional doctors of writing from major universities volunteering their time to enter a foreign, alternate reality. I had to find a way to give back and pay it forward. This is the result.
For starters, I will be sharing my thoughts, via the notes feature, on a range of topics (always on Substack first), as the main content is being finalized.
This "main content" includes (at present):
Insider Views Museletter, which is various articles spontaneously developing during the research phase of my magnum opus;
Insider Views Musecast, an extended, expansive audio version of the Museletter topic; and,
Speak Ya Release, a video series, interviewing some of those same mentors, as well as others, intimately involved with loved ones that are/were incarcerated, organizations doing the same and of critical import, the individuals that have personally experienced the sojourn of imprisonment.
I myself regretfully boast of over 200 thousand hours (well over 20 years) immersed in this field of experiential academia.
This, I dare say, qualifies me as an expert. I will endeavor to live up to the responsibility. Each of the above offerings are described below.
Subscribe to get full access to the Museletter and publication archives.
Insider Views: the Museletter — where the unheard get the mic and the real stories rise. Each issue dives into the raw truths behind systems, the spiritual shifts we rarely talk about, and the personal journeys that fuel change. From penal realities to life lessons and soul work, this museletter speaks what matters, asks what others won’t, and documents the rise of new voices. Raw questions. Real stories. Rebuilding systems, one voice at a time.
Insider Views: the Musecast — the voice beyond the page. Each week, the Musecast expands the conversation, offering immersive journeys into the realities where the silenced find sound and raw testimonials break through. Each episode explores the lived impact of broken systems, the quiet shifts that shape us, and the personal journeys rewriting our futures. From the traumas of psychological warfare to the work of inner recalibration, this Musecast listens harder, asks sharper, and speaks the stories that demand to be heard. True voices. Hard questions. A new roadmap, one storied brick at a time.
Speak Ya Release: a Billy Decastro Speaks Video Series — In this offering of the Billy Decastro Speaks Liberation Suite we shine a spotlight on the raw, unfiltered truths of incarceration and the unseen battles mainstream media leaves behind. We amplify four perspectives:
Insiders — still behind the walls.
Twinsiders — fighting on the outside, doing time alongside their loved ones.
Spinsiders — advocates working to break the cycle of imprisonment and recidivism.
Beensiders — the ones who lived it, carry the scars, never forget, and reach back while pushing forward.
Each story cuts through the system’s noise and into the real: psychological warfare, survival, and the quiet inner wars fought every day. Names protected. Voices liberated.
Because some truths are too big to stay locked up.
Welcome to Our World!
There's an easier way, family!
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And Finally:
I close in the words of my Auntie Maggie, that has since transitioned to join the Ancestors (she would ask this every time she spoke to one of us children):
”Wha’cha doin’ fi de good ah you’self???”
In that spirit, I strive to answer.
