by Treacy Ziegler (This is the final installment on my discussion of kindness in prison. To read the first three installments, see the first installment, the second installment, and the third installment.) What happens when volunteers and non-prisoners mingle with prisoners? How does kindness get interpreted between those living exclusively in a closed system with …

Continue reading Kindness, boundaries, and the border patrol

by Matt Malyon   I. Birdwatching Late night on Watson Bridge—a span across the Skagit River in Northern Washington—a trumpeter swan flies into a light pole.  The pole reverberates with sound. The bird drops onto the highway and stands in the amber light filtering from the large bulb above.  No—it reels, dizzy in the vibration …

Continue reading The Stories We Save May Include Our Own

by Dr. Kevin Shorner-Johnson Our newest podcast episode, Singing Connected Relationships in Prison Contexts with Dr. Mary Cohen is an exploration of the power of imagination as a part of restorative, redemptive, and community-building work within prison contexts. When the word “empathy” was introduced into the Western lexicon by Robert Vischer in 1873, the notion …

Continue reading Building Musical Imaginations

by artist R. Zumar What makes a master artist? How does one achieve that title? Become a master in their own right? Is it going to school for decades and being under the tutelage of an artist? Achieving several degrees and certificates that look good on paper like a good resume? What is it? I …

Continue reading The Becomings of a Master

Visual artist/illustrator Danny Ashton responds to a recent influx in requests for artwork depicting his experience of incarceration.

Hillside Continuation High School 11th and 12th grade students in Upland Unified School district in Southern California had the opportunity to connect with an incarcerated artist using their own art thanks to the Justice Arts Coalition pARTner project.

In her unforgettable memoir, HUMMINGBIRD IN UNDERWORLD, released this week by She Writes Press, Deborah Tobola intertwines the story of her rowdy family and occasionally tumultuous childhood with the story of her nine-year stint as a teacher of arts and creative writing at the California Men’s Colony, a prison in San Luis Obispo, California.

Teaching artists & educators working in prisons, lease take and share this survey about copyright empowerment for incarcerated people.