Category Archives: Stories from Prisoners
A Peek Inside Our Class
Below, a few students describe the room in which we hold class at the jail:
Six people plus me sharing wisdom from poems each has an interpretation we live in a dog eat dog world. Goodness still overcomes evil thank god for good people the walls are white and tall hard as stone and cannot fall I hear breathing the breath of life the suns getting low it will soon be night solitude and quietness is a peace I like rather day or night thoughts of peace in my mind and how I’m going to occupy time.
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This room is the best room in the jail because fellowship, the bible study, the mentor, and I can be by myself and to express myself and watch TV.
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Eight cinder blocks wide by twelve cinder blocks long. Suffused with the spirit of Pentecostal meetings to celebrate biblical stories, Christ financial code and the place of God among the tenants of AA and NA.
Place of refuge to create by writing; my one and only creative act of the last six months. Secluded discussion and refuge from Cos that feel free to intrude in every nook and cranny we are otherwise privileged to inhabit here in jail.
Echoing tile floors and painted concrete walls reverberate with discussion and discourse, leaving me free for exactly 90 minutes a week from reality TV, sports, and vapid game shows.
Royal blue and gray plastic tables with matching plastic lawn chairs. Locked entrance and egress seems more to bar staff outside than keep us in.
TV cart, blank screen and a white board with a matrix and magic markers inviting a little highlighted PowerPoint emphasis in red ink. Nirvana on the second floor, home away from home, hope in a box that echoes.
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Opportunistic artificial bland facilitator refuge dead end cold uninviting enlightening amusing entertaining catalyst hard influential constructive blessing white blue gray insightful green black brown beige orange silver yellow pink cream dirty inanimate orderly positive productive outlet mundane
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Seven souls within four cinderblock walls. Come together to share thoughts, experiences, and writing. Together we share seven different views from life. The neutral colors of the walls are uninspired which have us reach into our memories and minds for imagery. Verbally we bring them to life for the others.
In such a bland uninspiring room our imaginations bring the room to life.
Student Work Wednesday
I Am by Jacob D.
I am a loyal and humble person
I wonder if I’ll ever win at this game called life
I hear the harsh, loud, clink sound that chills my nerves multiple times a day
I see all kinds of races and nations come together in harmony following the way
I want to break this cycle of insanity sooner than later
I am a loyal and humble person
I pretend these walls of containment don’t bother me
I feel more sincere about becoming the solution rather than the problem for the first time in my life
I worry that if I don’t change now I never will and my evil deeds will outweigh the good
I cry when I think of the people I’ve lost and the older I get the more I can’t stand this shit
I am a loyal and humble person
I understand God is good and he is not one to wheel and deal
I say if everyone believed as me no matter what circumstance they face they’d be free
I dream about walking out the front door as if I had a key
I try to strengthen my faith everyday and be an example
I hope life gets better because I try and for the first time I can say I deserve it
I am a loyal and humble person.
Student Work Wednesday
To whom it may concern by Jason B.
Sobriety seems a possibility.
Time does not heal all wounds,
it mostly deepens them.
Time does open the mind.
My time was always about selfish pleasures.
Now those pleasures are like daggers.
Constant reminders of an evil past.
Memories of you hurt the most.
Knowing what was lost is a hard pill to swallow.
Reality hurts most when sober.
My whole world crumbled in an instant.
Things lost that I will never get back.
All I have are memories now.
And memories of you hurt the most…
Prison Arts + Activism Conference
The Rutger’s University Institute for Research on Women will be hosting Marking Time: Prison Arts and Activism Conference at Rutgers University at the beginning of October. The agenda is full of exciting events we wish we could attend! Despite not being able to, it is encouraging that Prison Arts will be the focus of this conference, which is the first of its kind. The conference has gathered programs and program leaders from across the country who focus their efforts on inmate expression through the arts. The event will also include an art exhibit of work from currently and formerly incarcerated individuals. This sharing of dynamic experiences and stories is close to our hearts here at WTR. Even if, like us, you cannot attend the event, you can view some of the art here.
Lead conference organizer, Dr. Nicole R. Fleetwood, captures the spirit of the event, (and similarly our mission) best by saying:
“There is a huge gap between the dominant public perception of prisoners—as lacking in value—and their humanity and productivity, as individuals who dream and envision brighter futures and as cherished ones whose families love and care for them.
Prison art helps to challenge the dehumanization of the incarcerated.”