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PRISON IN THE ARTS, ARTS IN PRISON

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BY ALI SANDLER- May 9, 2012 The honors program at the University of Rhode Island has created a course dedicated to prison in the arts, and the arts in prison. This colloquium, taught by Karen de Bruin, Assistant Professor of French, and Sharon Key, Reverend, Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, and formerly at Sing Sing Prison, ask the students the question How does one give meaning in life from the confines of prison, and especially when sentenced to death or life imprisonment? I spent this semester sitting in the class to see them approach this question through the study of literature, art, music and film, as well as interaction with current prisoners. The topics discussed were on the lives of innocent victims who were imprisoned unjustly, political prisoners lives, and the redemption of criminals. The goal of this course addressed the larger question: How can one attain inner freedom when physical or social freedom has been taken away? This is a question that is not often asked, especially to this age group, so it was a chance to discuss what they may not usually think about. In the end, students came to an understanding of the role that the arts can play in their own lives. With an array of majors in this class, whether science based or on the artistic side, everyone came together to share their feelings and knowledge about life. Many of them tried new things, such as writing poetry and acting, which is something they may never have done if it wasnt for this course. This class was an important one for the students, because it was unique and thoughtful. With class discussions, presentations, readings, and films, they were able to learn from different perspectives and think deeply about the positions prisoners are in. It is crucial that college students gain an understanding about this topic before they go out into the real world, because

2 they become stronger human beings with more knowledge about the past and present victims and criminals that they studied. With this guided class relating art and prison, the students learned an important message that could not be attained in any other course. A big picture was on emotions and communication with others that is achieved through art. With the different aspects and types of art, such as painting, poetry, filming, writing, reading, and acting, there were a variety of ways that the students learned and taught each other about the meaning of life. Weeks at a time were spent focusing on a specific topic. Within those topics, students learned about different prisoners and the struggles they faced. The first module covered was that of innocent victims. In the beginning, they discussed what an innocent victim was and if they ever felt that they had been victimized or been a perpetrator. Many students felt that hate and bias crimes were a big part of students at URI being victimized. Studies show that Hate and bias crimes reported on school and college campuses made up 11.4 percent (754 incidents) of all hate and bias crimes reported in the United States in 2009 (NCVC). This was just one of the issues discussed as the students opened up about how they felt they were victims. Also in this section, they read Viktor Frankls Mans Search for Meaning. Frankl was a psychologist held in the death camps of Auschwitz during the Holocaust. In this book, he explained many of his experiences there and how he gave meaning to his life. There, he created Logotherapy, which focused on the meaning of human existence as well as mans search for such a meaning. This remained a major reference to the class throughout the semester, because it was filled with important historical information and was a detailed account of what actually happened in the camps. He described his mental state and the phases and abuse that he and the prisoners went through. This book remained a critical part of the class and was constantly being discussed, because of his many messages in the book about love, hope, faith, suffering, and loss.

3 An interesting aspect of this section was a video of Elie Wiesel and paintings from a German Death camp. These introduced the art section of the course. With the paintings shown on the projector the class held discussions and interpretations, which they shared with each other in small separate groups. Students also watched an incredible film called The Magdalene Sisters, which was about the abuse of Irish women in the Magdalene Sisters Asylum. They shared their thoughts and feelings in class about these very different issues and types of prisoners. The discussions after watching the films were deep and reflective, because many students had different views. In this section they also read poems by women in Camp Ravensbrck and viewed the well-known film about the Rwandan Genocide called Hotel Rwanda. After answering questions and much discussion about this work, the class did interpretive projects on what they had learned during that module. Some examples of presentations were dialogues, poetry, and artwork. In these projects, the students incorporated the main themes of this module, which were loss, faith, freedom, and hope. Module two, which focused on political prisoners, was intellectually intriguing with the introduction to many famous and historical figures. A large discussion was on Thoreaus, Civil Disobedience and Aung Sun Suu Kyis Freedom from Fear. With these works the main topics were of conscience and free will. These were difficult topics to grasp, so students again broke into groups to come up with a plan that they would use to show civil disobedience. Students also read and discussed Nelson Mandelas Robben Island the Dark Years and Robben Island Beginning to Hope from A Long Walk to Freedom. The civil rights movement was a significant topic in this section. Martin Luther King Jr. was another important figure that the students learned about. They studied his speeches to understand how he fought for equality and civil rights. An example of his work they read was the Letter from a Birmingham Jail.

4 They also read Sartres The Wall, and talked about existentialism. This was a major theme in the class, because with its claim that thinking about human existence requires new categories not found in the conceptual repertoire of ancient or modern thought; human beings can be understood neither as substances with fixed properties, nor as subjects interacting with a world of objects (Crowell). This was crucial to their knowledge about the meaning of life, since it is always changing as humans evolve. Along with this prison book, select poems from Candles Burn in Memory Town were also significant sources to understand more prison writing. To close this module they watched the film Un Prophte, where a young Arab man is sent to a French prison and becomes a mafia kingpin. This film was fundamental to the discussion of gangs, which lead into the next section of the course. The final module was on criminals, with the most discussion about art in prison all semester. The films viewed were Dead Man Walking and Redemption. The students were eager to share their opinions of the characters and how they evolved using writing as a way to find meaning in their lives. There was a presentation of artwork from local prison artists as well as letters to the class from an inmate. These drawings deeply impacted the class and were surprisingly well done by prisoners who had never drawn before or did not even know how to read. The final readings were of Wally Lamb, Couldnt Keep It to Myself: Testimonies from our Imprisoned Sisters. These stories helped give a better perspective on female prisoners. The main aspect of this section was a visit to RI maximum-security prison, also known as the Department of Corrections. Many students had never been to a real prison before, so it was an exciting experience and something they may never see in their lifetime. They were able to compare the real prison to the ones they saw in the films and read about. They entered a poetry class with ten prisoners immersed in their discussion circle. Everyone introduced himself or herself and then the inmates shared their work. It was a different kind of class for the inmates,

5 since the students also took turns reading the prisoners poetry first. The inmates were extremely well behaved as well as the students. They were able to bond through discussing their writing and it was an extraordinary experience. This facilitys mission statement includes their hope to provide correctional treatment, training, care, and supervision commensurate with custody grade and category necessary to return each inmate to society as an effective member of that society and as a useful citizen with improved attitude and motivation (Weeden). The poetry class is helping provide a therapeutic and reflective environment to channel the inmates thoughts and emotions into a positive and educational experience. With only a few weekly meetings, this class could be expanded to invite more inmates into the program and create additional classes. Improved attitude and motivation is definitely achieved through this class. The prisons educational/vocational programs include Adult Basic Education, General Educational Development, English As A Second Language, remedial reading, CCRI Visual Arts and Computer Literacy, and barber licensing (Weeden). With more of a focus on art and writing classes, the inmates can use them as a way to help them find meaning in their lives. The honors class did one last interpretive project, which included videos and artwork presentations. Prison in the arts has been a spiritual and emotional journey about freedom and the will to survive with a one of a kind learning experience. With the many different pieces of art, films, and readings done, the students were able to discuss with their peers as well as the professors their experience throughout. This is a course that should be offered to everyone every semester, because it is truly beneficial.

6 Secondary Sources Cited Crowell, Steven, "Existentialism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2010/entries/existentialism/>. NCVC. "The National Center for Victims of Crime - Library/Document Viewer." The National Center for Victims of Crime - Library/Document Viewer. 2011. Web. <http://www.ncvc.org/ncvc/main.aspx?dbName=DocumentViewer>. Weeden, James. "Rhode Island Department of Corrections." Institutions & Operations: Facilities: Maximum Security. RIDC. Web. <http://www.doc.ri.gov/institutions/facilities/max_sec.php>.

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