San Diego State University students are teaching writing to inmates at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility. Read more about it in the UT San Diego News.
Check out this beautiful article by Russ Litten of the Huffington Post UK. In it, Litten discusses the need for creative workshops in prisons, and concludes that, “We need to repair society’s damaged souls and move them from ignorance and brutality to compassion and respect, for the sake of both themselves and the society they will return to. We need positive action. And actions, as we all know start with words.”
Here is an opportunity from Chicago Books to Women in Prison: If you know a woman who has experienced incarceration and who would like to be published, Chicago Books to Women in Prison is looking for submissions. Nonfiction, fiction, and poetry are all accepted. For more information, look at this posting on “Chicago Girl Talk.”
Check out this video interview with Arthur Longworth about the University Beyond Bars organization. According to their web site, University Beyond Bars “seeks to replace incarceration with education and to build a society where all people are given the chance to transform themselves and their communities. “ Arthur Longworth is the author of “Walla Walla IMU,” one of the stories that we adapted for the script for Inside, the film.
Each week, author Mindy Hardwick facilitates a poetry workshop at the Denney Juvenile Justice Center in Everett, Washington. The goal is to give the youth at Denney an opportunity to express themselves, so Hardwick encourages the youth to write about their own life experiences. Their work, which touches on issues such as love, family and self-image, is then published in a chapbook funded by the Blanche Miller Art Exhibit Program and posted on a blog: Teen Poems From Behind Bars. Hardwick kindly took the time to tell me a bit more about the workshop and how it got started:
What inspired you to start the Denney Juvenile Justice Center Poetry Workshop?
I had just left full-time teaching and was in the middle of a career transition from teacher to writer. I was looking for a way to stay connected to youth in the community. A writer friend of mine, Ann Teplick, was volunteering for Pongo Publishing. Pongo is a poetry workshop that works with teens in a Seattle Juvenile Detention Center. She encouraged me to contact the Program Director of the Detention Center in my area and see if it might be possible for me to do a writing workshop.
Ironically, the first day of the workshop, I ran into a former teaching colleague who was now in charge of the school program. Eventually, we moved the poetry workshop over to be a part of the school day. The first couple years, the poetry workshop ran in the units after the school day.
How many teens participate, and how are they selected?
Every week, I meet with one unit of boys and one unit of girls. There are usually eight to ten kids in each unit. The units are chosen by the school program supervisor. Often, the units include kids who are in detention for longer periods of time. For example, awaiting court dates or sentenced to thirty days at the detention center. (Once kids are sentenced to longer than thirty days, the majority of them are moved to our long term facilities in other parts of the State) The kids in the poetry workshop are, often, repeat offenders. So, many times I have worked with them in previous workshops and this gives us a nice rapport.
What types of assignments do you give and what activities do you do?
We write poetry which is drawn from life experience. The poetry is honest and reflects some aspect of the teen’s life. In the workshop, we begin by reading poetry written by other teens such as those published by Writers Corp or published poetry from previous detention center workshops. After we have read and discussed a handful of poems, we jump off the topics we have heard in the poems. Some of the popular topics include: “I used to be, but now I am…”, “Fathers,” “Siblings,” “Something I regret” or “What I wish I could tell you.” The focus is not on the form or technique of writing a poem (although this does get discussed), but instead, the focus of the poetry writing is to help the teens speak honestly about their lives.
What is the atmosphere like in the classroom and between the participants?
That depends! Most of the time, the atmosphere is very engaged and supportive. But, the teens are in detention and things like upcoming court dates, visitations, or release dates do cause for anxiety and stress.
In the workshop, the teens are really good with encouraging each other to write what is on their minds and hearts. Sometimes there are tears, but we laugh a lot too. I always feel very privileged to sit with the teens and get a glimpse into their lives. During the workshop, I feel like they allow me to be a part of their “inner circle” and I’m very honored they trust me.
What impact do you think the workshop has on the participants?
I think it empowers them. For many of the teens, they don’t have very many positive successes. At the end of the workshop, I give the writers a choice to read their poems aloud. There is always the moment when a teen will tell us they don’t want to read, and yet, after everyone else has shared will say, “Is it okay if I read now?” and then the writer will amaze all of us with their depth and insight. I’ve learned that the kids who resist the workshop the most are most likely the ones, at the end of the workshop, who have the most to say in their poetry.
You publish the poems on a blog and in chapbooks. Why is it important to get the teen’s poems out into the community?
It’s important for the teens because it gives them a voice and a way to tell their story. So often, the only story people know is the one on the front page of the newspaper or on the nightly news. The poetry is a way for the community to see the teens as young people who have a lot on their plate rather than just a crime and/or addiction.
What are some of the most rewarding moments you’ve had as a volunteer and mentor?
There are so many! But, I think the most rewarding are the days when I realize how the teen’s courage to tell their stories inspires me in my own writing. Many times, I have returned to my writing desk, and seen their faces and heard their voices in the stories I write. For example, in my upcoming young adult novel, Weaving Magic (April 2012), there is an epiphany scene where the main character is in a poetry workshop in a detention center and he makes a key realization about his Father. That scene was drawn directly from my work with the poetry workshop. It takes a lot of courage to write about your life, and I feel like seeing the teen’s courage inspires me to take my own writing to new depths.
About Mindy Hardwick: A published children’s writer, Hardwick is the author of numerous short stories for teens and young adults. Her novel, Weaving Magic, will be published in 2012 by Muse-It-Up Publishing. Hardwick is also the co-editor of four anthologies, written by the youth at Denney, entitled, Call It Courage, I Am From, Because I Wanted to Be Loved, and Please Brave Me, Don’t Cry.
From the UK’s Literacy Trust, here are some examples of how people are using the organization’s “Reading Champions” project to reward and inspire both inmates and officers.
