This issue of The Lifer magazine, November/December 1973, has a cover image of a black illustration and text. The illustration depicts the outline of a man in a striped jumpsuit incased in a tombstone reading "THE LIFER". His shackled hands are rising up from the tombstone. A Bible verse, Ezekial 1, 5:20-22, is printed below the illustration. Stories in this issue include concerns about lack of educational programs, psychological health for longterm confinement, and the effects of certain colors on mood and mental health. There are also poems, brief news items, and updates about clubs and sports activities at the prison. There are fifty (50) interior pages in the magazine and it is bound with three (3) metal staples. The front and back covers are of the same light paper weight as the interior pages.
This issue of The Lifer magazine, January/February/March 1974, has a cover featuring a black illustration and text. The illustration depicts two knights in armor fighting with swords. A quotation from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1862 book The House of the Dead is typed below the drawing. Text along the bottom reads: SPECIAL FEATURE by Mario Puzo, / Author of "THE GODFATHER". The featured article is a reprint from Puzo's 1972 book The Godfather Papers and concerns federal government and corporate corruption. Other stories examine prison reform, an increase in hiring of female staff at the facility, and two pieces on the issue of so-called black-on-black crime. There are also illustrations throughout and several original poems, as well as reports on daily activities and inmate organizations. The magazine has sixty-two (62) interior pages and is bound with three (3) metal staples.