JoyBelle Phelan

JoyBelle Phelan is a writer, systems-builder, and national leader in prison-based writing and media. She is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Unbound Authors, a Colorado-based writing center reaching incarcerated writers across the state, with active programming in 13+ correctional facilities. She has built a statewide infrastructure supporting more than 1,200 incarcerated writers to date through writing labs, mentorship, and pathways to publication.

Under her leadership, Unbound Authors partners with the Colorado Department of Corrections to deliver communication and workforce development programming, with publications through its imprint, Mercury Mountain Media, serving as a real-world practicum for writers developing journalism, storytelling, and collaborative communication skills. The first issue of its statewide newspaper, Messenger Quarterly, and its inaugural anthology are set to launch in the coming months.

JoyBelle currently serves as Project Coordinator for the American Penal Press Contest with the Pollen Initiative, where she is designing national submission and judging systems to support prison-based newspapers across the country. Her broader work spans public storytelling, media production, and coalition-building: she is Co-President of Unchained Voices, a Features Host with Colorado Radio for Justice, and contributes to statewide systems change through the Colorado Coalition for Higher Education in Prison (C-CHEP).

Her background includes years of building writer relations and practicing duty of care with incarcerated writers at Prison Journalism Project. She previously worked as a reentry specialist with Breakthrough and as a project assistant with the University of Denver Prison Arts Initiative, supporting arts-based programming and prison-based storytelling initiatives, and serving as Managing Editor to The Inside Report, Colorado’s last prison newspaper, before launching Unbound Authors in 2023.

A published writer and speaker, JoyBelle has presented nationally and internationally, including at EuroCrim in Greece, and has been featured on national podcasts and at TEDx San Quentin. She is the recipient of the 2023 Solutions Journalism Audio Award, a 2024 Realness Project Exemplar Award, and is a graduate of the 2023 Dream Justice Fellowship.

Formerly incarcerated, JoyBelle draws on her lived experience to build ethical, sustainable systems that expand access to storytelling, education, and communication—and are reshaping how prison-based writing and media programs operate.