Author Archives: Jean

Prison Braille Programs

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I can't say I'm nuts about Texas.  Guns. Trucks.  Giant Highways.  Death Row.  But there's a fascinating program in the Mountain View Women's Prison outside Temple,Texas, where more than 90 inmates take almost two years of training to work in the Braille translation facility and produce about 5,000 to 10,000 Braille pages per month. The Houston Chronicle reported this story in December.  Braille was developed in the early 19th century by Louis Braille, who lost his eyesight to a childhood accident., and it begins with six-dot coded letters, words and punctuation.

In the picture above, a woman works with what is called, "digital tactile graphics," one of the skills that add to women becoming certified in Braille.  Most of what they produce is for elementary and secondary students who are blind. In this 610 person prison, a woman could work in Braille– if she is accepted into the program — or she could train dogs for the handicapped in the kind of program I wrote about in an earlier post. But yep,she could also be sentenced to death.

Random you say, a program in braille in a prison?  I agree that much of what is offered behind bars seems chosen because someone got an idea and ran with it.  At Framingham, when I worked behind bars, the women had a bonsai tree program and they also made flags a la Betsy Ross.  Prison industries is not what I would call "logical."  Some would say labor is cheap and prisoners are used, sometimes abused,more than taught skills.  In the "Women in Building Trades" at Framingham, in the first years, women were not using tools because tools were not allowed behind bars for them!

But training someone to be a Braille transcriber seems worthwhile even if it seems somewhat random because the jobs earn real money ($50,000 a year says the Chronicle) and may help women with re-entry, a true sore spot for prisons, nation-wide.

Mountain View is the only prison in Texas which has this program but according to the National Prison Braille Network, there are over 36 programs operating in 26 states. In Mountain View, women get a yearlong program in some basics such as math,music and foreign language.  Then they work on computersbut only after accomplishing the "vintage Perkins Brailler, a manual typewriter that uses keystrokes to emboss raised dots on sheets of paper."

            

Two women from the program.

Prisoners Own Shakespeare Too

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Some years ago I brought an amazing artist to my college, Middlesex Community College, in Lowell, Massachusetts — Homer Jackson.  Jackson had honed his chops on Philadelphia's performance art scene and worked with prisoners and former prisoners.  My students loved him, and in particular, the way he allowed art and performance, poverty and loss, prisoner and free person to all blend into one.

One thing always leads to another it seems, when you're working for prisoner rights, and this year, I heard from a friend of Homer's, Steve Rowland,a two-time Peabody Award winning documentary producer, currently involved in a new project.

Called "Globe to Globe Visits Prison, or, To Whom Does Shakespeare Belong?" Rowland says he had two experiences that changed his world:  1) interviewing men in a Shakespeare class organized by Rehabiltation Through The Arts at Woodbourne Prison in NY State;  2) being the head interviewer at an amazing international Shakespeare festival at London's Globe Theater

Now, along side the Globe and along with Rehabilitation through the Arts, he's using material from three of Shakespeare's plays and making a documentary touching on issues domestic violence, questions of manhood, loyalty, betrayal, way and identity.

Here's a photo from a Nigerian production of A Winter's Tale which inspired Rowland.

And here's 5 minute trailer on his project page which clarifies more about the documentary.

Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA)  was founded in Sing Sing in 1996. Today, RTA works in five New York State prisons with innovative programs in theatre, dance, creative writing, voice and visual art. From their website, RTA says that they are "dedicated to using the creative arts as a tool for social and cognitive transformation behind prison walls."

Alaskan Women’s Orchestra – In prison

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In times of violence, I look for hope.  Here it is:

Sarah Jane Coffman is serving a 14-year sentence for murder in Eagle River Alaska’s Hiland Mountain Correctional Facility.  Yes, she is a perpetrator of an awful crime.  But as so many of us know who have worked behind bars, Sarah is not only the face of crime.  As reported by Mark Thiessen  in the Associated Press, she founded the prison orchestra in 2003.  She had her debut as a member of the free world when the orchestra performed two annual holiday concerts on December 8th, 2012.

Sarah plays the viola in what can only be described as a fairly welcoming environment– for a prison.  She was released in February but actually has driven every Saturday to rehearse with the orchestra.  She plays with women who became her friends behind bars.  Not unusual for females.Many make bonds and connect deeply to bare the time, time often away from their children. Nearly 70% of women in prison are mothers– at Framingham Women’s Prison when I was there, it was 80%.

Thiessen reports that “This year’s concert is also a milestone for another founding member, cellist Dana Hilbish, convicted for the 1991 murder of her common law husband in Ketchikan. She received a 60-year sentence, with 25 suspended.  It will be her last performance. Hilbish has been granted parole early next year.”  She felt that the orchestra has been a family for her.

An outside artist named Pati Crofut, who directs the Anchorage-based Arts on the Edge, began directing the orchestra nine years ago. She encourages long-termers to be part of the musical experience since it takes time to learn how to play classical music.  There are 30 members now.

A nice observation by Conductor Gabrielle Whitfield, an Anchorage public schools teacher, “They always say the greater a person’s sadness in life, the greater their capacity for joy,” she said. “I totally find that to be true here.”  In my experience this is true,as women behind bars create art to heal, touch deep parts of themselves and learn to get outside of their crimes.

To listen to the orchestra and hear more of their insights about art and music, go here for a glorious video. 

And for another piece of hope, read my piece about Dolly, a woman I taught at Framingham Women’s Prison who became my friend, and who gave me “A Gift From prison.”  Dolly below, pictured as Lysistrata in our prison production by the same name: