Imagine the love a dog that is on its “last days” at an animal shelter must feel when they are unconditionally loved by a human that at one time abused them. Imagine the love an incarcerated woman feels when she can help earn the trust of an abused dog. This is one of the beautiful
Deep in the Mojave Desert of California lies one of America’s most peculiar places—a location that serves as a fascinating case study in federal fraud, land crimes, and the intersection of religious freedom with criminal law. Zzyzx represents more than just an oddly named spot on the map; it embodies a complex legal saga involving
It may be hard to imagine prison inmates and ex-offenders involved in the dairy industry. However, in upstate New York, where there are plenty of prisons and cows, a grassroots organization called, Milk Not Jails, began in order to help with prison reform and to help with the state’s dairy crisis as the costs of
Domestic violence is rampant in the United States. Thousands of women are incarcerated, often for life, for killing a partner that threatened their lives or the lives of their children. And today, these women are trapped behind bars because the only way to protect themselves was by killing their abusers. A California state prison study
A skill where my students are weak is the ability to show and identify similarities and differences. The educational literature indicates you need to be able to compare and contrast. I explain this to the men and tell them how important the ability is, and we have had lessons to work on those skills.
For example, I have shown all three movies in the trilogy Sarah, Plain and Tall. We have read the books and watched the movies, and the students loved it! I used these movies to guide them on how to compare and contrast. I did a whole lesson on how 1909 was like 2009, and how the times were different. How were the clothes different? How were the marriages different or how were they the same? I put up big sheets of paper and gave them markers, and they went up and filled in the charts.
Each year, the PEN American Center presents awards for its Prison Writing Program. The program encourages literacy and creative expression. All participants are currently incarcerated somewhere in the United States. The PEN Center receives thousands of entries each year. The judges read the entries and make subjective evaluations in the following categories: poetry, fiction, essay, memoir, and drama. The 2012 winners, including honorable mentions, are listed below. These author-prisoners are to be congratulated and applauded.
2012 Annual Writing Contest Award Winners
One may not think that a creative music project could help with the rehabilitation of prison inmates, yet many, many incarcerated individuals across the UK have been helped tremendously through the Irene Taylor Trust Music in Prisons project. In 1995, the Irene Taylor Trust was established in the memory of the late Lord Chief Justice
By Jon Marc Taylor, Ph.D.
“New York’s success against crime over the past two decades,” observes Franklin Zimring, the author of The City that Became Safe: New York’s lessons for Urban Crime and Its Control, “has proved the wrong headedness of the ‘incapacitation or nothing’ strategy.”
Second: The next stage of reform needs to be action that substantially reduces correctional costs. A recent U.S. Senate survey of prison wardens from across the country revealed that half of their charges could be released tomorrow without jeopardizing public safety.
Dogs with poor social skills meet prison inmates with poor social skills, and what is born is DAWGS in Prison. DAWGS is an acronym for Developing Adoptable Dogs With Good Sociability. The DAWGS in Prison program is in partnership with the St. Joseph Humane Society and the Gulf Correctional Institution in Florida. The mission of
I had an older non-reader who ran circles around the other guys when it came to history. I would show a video about a war. He knew what was coming before it came on the screen, and he was very proud of himself. The other men respected him for that, and it gave him a chance to shine.
One of the movies I have shown occasionally is Titanic. I would have thought by now everybody has seen Titanic. But as I tell my students, a lot of them have “lived under rocks.” They don’t go to movies unless it is a “guy” movie, a big adventure film with high action. I spend a lot of time explaining to them they need to expand their horizons. Most eventually learn whenever I show a movie, they all love it and know I am not going to give them something that will put them to sleep.