Shayla Hale

After a 14-year career in publishing, Shayla Hale said goodbye to her authors so she could advocate for the incarcerated. Now a bleeding heart, she teaches writing classes at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in McLoud. She also enjoyed two years as a volunteer chaplain at Oklahoma County Jail.

Shayla is the founder and executive director of Crime & Compassion Inc.,
a nonprofit that gives incarcerated individuals the tools to become authors, empowering those in and out of prison to cultivate meaningful work opportunities.

Her classes on the inside encourage creativity and confidence, and her podcast and newsletter shine a bright light on incarceration. Her heart’s desires are to unconditionally love the incarcerated, to help them bring their books into the world, and to fight with and for those affected by the US justice system.

In her not-so-free time, Shayla binges documentaries, thrifts for vintage treasures, and reads from her never-ending stack of books. She lives in Norman with her hilarious husband and three very spoiled dogs.