Twice, and sometimes even three times a week, Kathie Klarreich enters the front entry gate of Dade Correctional Institution to teach creative writing. Armed with a see-through plastic carrying case filled with pencils, paper, and the day’s assignments and handouts, she’s ready to bash the monotonous lives of the prisoners with stimulating reads and intriguing… Continue reading The Effects of Educational Programs in Prison Towards Overall Rehabilitation: The Observations and Perspective of a Prisoner by Christopher Malec

As the founder of Indiana Prison Writers Workshop, I go into Indiana correctional facilities each week to facilitate a creative writing workshop. The workshop, I would argue, allows my students to experience a therapeutic avenue for expression. Writing can encourage us to explore our emotional states and can cultivate more critical self-awareness and critical thinking.… Continue reading Review: Feeding the Roots of Self-Expression and Freedom by Jimmy Santiago Baca by Debra Des Vignes

 “I’m just gonna let you know how it is’: Situating Writing and Literacy Education in Prison” | Tobi Jacobi “Where Lifelines Converge: Voices from the Forest Correctional Creative Writing Group” | Laura Rogers “Disturbing Where We Are Comfortable: Notes from Behind the Walls” | Lori Pompa “Prison 101” | Shane R. Hillman “Telephone Conversation with… Continue reading Volume 4, Number 1, Winter 2004

This article is a teacher narrative examining the experiences of a teacher in a correctional facility writing workshop and how those experiences led her to understand that in order to effectively teach the workshop, she had to achieve a deeper understanding of the world of the prison as well as see that the success of… Continue reading Where Lifelines Converge: Voices from the Forest Correctional Creative Writing Group by Laura Rogers

“I’m not gonna sit and preach to anyone because I myself have been in and out of these doors 12 times. I’m just gonna let you know how it is” “To the Girls at the Audy” by Irene Sanchez (17) In ten-week creative writing workshops held at Chicago’s Cook County Jail, Irene Sanchez and other… Continue reading I’m just gonna let you know how it is’: Situating Writing and Literacy Education in Prison by Tobi Jacobi

How can we nurture children’s creative ability as writers outside the academic context, celebrating their unique voices, teaching them to trust their ears and value the creative process? It can be set up simply: A group of young students in an after school center. Some adults acting as mentors to help them do creative writing.… Continue reading Merging Voices: University Students Writing with Children in a Public Housing Project by Michael John Martin

Warrior Writers: A Collection of Writing & Artwork By Veterans offers a voice for soldiers speaking their truths and a rare glimpse inside their hearts and minds for the civilians who remain homeside, creating an open channel to the lesser known, (and rarely discussed), personal details of warfare through poetry, creative nonfiction, and photography. Editors… Continue reading Review: Warrior Writers: A Collection of Writing & Artwork Veterans by Aleashia Walton Valentin

The Writers in Communities (WIC) Program at Gemini Ink in San Antonio sends professional writers into diverse community settings—from shelters, schools and neighborhood centers to detention facilities and halfway houses—to work alongside students of all ages, needs, interests and abilities. These workshops—always free to participants—focus on oral traditions, reading, and creative writing. The majority of… Continue reading Mother Tongue/Idioma Materno by Anisa Onofre, Mary Morales, Jessica Gonzalez, Sonia Marzo & Robb Jackson