"Words can Inform, Transform, Inspire"

In addition to authoring his memoir, In the Place of Justice (2010), Wilbert has co-edited two criminal justice anthologies.  Life Sentences: Rage and Survival Behind Bars (1992), edited with Angolite associate editor Ron Wikberg, was used in criminal justice courses around the country; it is now out of print but used copies are usually available on Amazon or eBay.  The Wall Is Strong: Corrections in Louisiana (1989), edited with Professor Burk Foster and Ron Wikberg (1st edition; Burk Foster and Douglas Dennis, subsequent editions), now in its 4th edition, is still in use in some state universities. 

Wilbert has helped create award-winning documentaries for radio, TV, and film.  In 1989 he and Ron Wikberg worked with radio documentarian Dave Isay to create "Tossing Away the Keys," about longtermers lost in the system, which garnered a Livingston Award for Isay. In 1994 Wilbert and Michael Glover collaborated with ABC-TV Day One producer Paul Slavin to create "In for Life," about the growing population of lifers in American prisons; for it, he won a CINE Golden Eagle Award.  He provided the story and guidance for Final Judgment: The Execution of Antonio James (1996), a feature-length film that aired on the Discovery Channel and won the Thurgood Marshall Award and the Louisiana Bar Association's Overall Excellence in Journalism Award.  He co-directed The Farm, a 1998 feature-length film that won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, was nominated for an Academy Award, and won him the Black Oscar Nominees' Tree of Life Award in 1999. 

"Can a Free Press Flourish Behind Bars?" The Nation (June 25, 2014), with Linda LaBranche. 

"When Prisoners Protest," The New York Times (July 17, 2013) op-ed. 

"The Light of Freedom: The Transformational Power of a Free Press," invited essay in To Build a Better Justice System (The Sentencing Project, 2012), ed. Marc Mauer and Kate Epstein

"Malcolm X,"Financial Times, (April 2011), review of Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable 

"Deflating the Prison Bubble,"Wilson Quarterly (April 2011), invited commentary on "Beyond the Prison Bubble," by Joan Petersilia (Winter 2011)

"My Life on Death Row," The Progressive (April 2011)

"The Invisible Line," Financial Times (Feb 2011), review of The Invisible Line: Three American Families and the Secret Journey from Black to White by Daniel Sharfstein. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/991b7f62-3ae3-11e0-8d81-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2VM0pWZPQ

"Presumed Guilty," Financial Times (Feb 2011) review of Anatomy of Injustice: A Murder Case Gone Wrong by Raymond Bonner. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/516e8848-5ca8-11e1-ac80-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2VM0pWZPQ

"Is the Death Penalty a Deterrent?" IPS (Inter-Press Service) Jan 2011

"On Solitary Confinement," American Constitution Society blog (2010).

"Life (and faith) after Death Row," Washington Post (2010)