
Witness to Mass Incarceration is a narrative-driven interactive story based on my life in federal prison. It is a brutally honest portrayal of the lack of humanity, how our lives inside are at risk every day, and the place you are forced to go within yourself to survive.
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About
2026 Webby People’s Voice Winner — Games: Social Impact & Public Service
How do you capture the inhumanity of prison?
The night before I left for prison, my mother told me prison would be harder for me than the concentration camp had been for her. WITNESS to Mass Incarceration: Chapter 1 is the true story of my first day inside federal prison, where within hours I realized I am no longer in the free world, and that my survival depended on learning the rules, both spoken and unspoken.
How do you translate that inhumanity into game design?
The computer game team decided to use a 2D narrative-driven journey, pixel art and point-and-click exploration to tell my story. We were committed to telling this story authentically and to build an immersive narrative to show the gamer the reality of the harsh life all prisoners face.
Gaming techniques like dragging and sliding objects were used in furtherance of the story. Each interaction reveals another layer of prison’s reality, immersing you in the fear, uncertainty, and emotional strain that define life behind bars.
This first chapter is one in a series which tells the story of my arrest, conviction, incarceration and release. We are creating this game for you to know and feel what it is like to face incarceration. It is our hope that this game brings awareness of the issue of mass incarceration.
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Stats
Languages: English**languages with full audio support
Engagement
Reviews
Themes across 41 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
Reviews
This game is very well-designed and deals with the harsh realities of the US Prison system in an informative and emotional way.
This was a very interesting game that demonstrated the reality of going to prison. I did not know much about this beforehand and learned a lot. I thought the graphics were very well done and made for a unique way to learn about the American prison system.
Nice little free game about imprisonment of an ordinary woman, convicted of tax fraud. You embark on her journey how she experienced prison life. As there is only one part available atm, there are future episodes planned but not yet released. Congrats to the developers and only one slight remark: there is not enough time to read about the creators of the game (at the end of the 1st episode).
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Concurrent players on Steam, sampled daily since tracking started.
Hours played at review time, across 41 reviews with recorded playtime.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
This game is very well made and easy to play. The pacing, visuals, and music create an atmosphere that is immersive and forces the player to contemplate the realities of the American prison system. It is not an easy narrative to digest, but it is an important one.
This game not only provides an intentionally-paced, immersive experience, but allows individuals beyond this scope in focus (mass incarceration and the harms of the U.S Prison System) to meaningfully interact and engage with Evie's first-hand experience, shared by so many other individuals denied their autonomy under these brutal systems. This game is disturbing to play, and simultaneously instills in the player a drive to play more- learn more. This chapter is extraordinarily written, and I highly recommend this game to anyone who finds themselves with a mere 20 extra minutes!
This game is an incredible and unsettling look into the realities and truths of the experience of imprisonment. The voice over and music really emphasize how scary and traumatizing just this one story of incarceration must have been and encourages you to engage with the logistics and mechanics of the prison system in a visceral way. I would definitely recommend this game, especially to those who don't know much about the prison system in the US!
Really good story. It did however have a very abrupt ending that I did not see coming as I was enjoying it! I can't wait for the second chapter to come out!
This game intimately places you inside a reality most people will never truly understand. What makes it powerful compared to the usual prison movies is that you’re just a regular person suddenly thrown into the prison system. You pick up unsettling details in the scene and with people you interact with that you don’t experience in the every day world. The game captures the slow creeping process of dehumanization that no other form of media can capture. It’s absolutely worth experiencing
This game is wonderfully done. The art is beautiful and there is such attention to detail. It really puts you into the shoes (literally) of an incarcerated person and just how horrible and dehumanizing the US justice system is. Its unsettling and harrowing and such an important story to tell. I cant wait for chapter 2.
interesting topic and cool game idea; short but looks like more content is coming.
Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.