<p> This creative dissertation consists of a novella, <i>The Riot</i>. alongside a contextualizing essay. Ultimately, this project is about social justice for a population that is forced together, those who contain and the ones contained. The former group are the gatekeepers of the barrier that runs between two parallel worlds. less concrete than mortar and concertina wire, more dangerous and more permeable. It is the thinnest, most tenuous part of our buffered-up society, and one that can be rendered, ripped, or compromised in a moment..</p><p> <i>Inside Job</i> collates different perspectives into one novella, which acts as a frame story for the lived experience that is human containment, including the unique commonality between both parties, that of being judged by a larger society. Prison is a secret place; truth is often hidden. Steel bars are my view finder in weaving together the voices of those who are isolated as they serve either time or the system, along with the writings of prison scholars and creative fiction and nonfiction writers. Key to my contextualzing essay has been the work of Michel Foucault, Linda Alcoff, creative nonfiction pioneer Lee Gutkind, and prison writers who stand on both sides of the bars, including Ted Conover, George Jackson, and Caleb Smith.</p>