COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Art Gallery August 4 2020 - #JAILBEDDROP at So LA Contemporary Gallery

The film features an interview with Kenneth's mother, Gina, and shows the transformative power that art holds for incarcerated artists and effects this can have on their families and communities.

“IS THIS WHAT JUSTICE LOOKS LIKE?”

An excerpt from Dr. Bidhan Roy’s forward in Disconnect/Reconnect is up on Brick of Gold’s Medium page. Click here to read.

Unseen: The Emotional & Economic Devastation of Incarceration

Recently published on Medium, Jessica Salinas, WordsUncaged Board Member, writes about her struggles caring for her incarcerated brother and the added difficulties of doing so during a pandemic. To read the complete article, click here. 

The Men at Lancaster Prison donate meals to health care workers at Kaiser Hospital and Antelope Valley Hospital

Kenneth E. Hartman, Lt. Marla Graves, R. Johnson, Sam Lewis, and many more talk in support of the efforts of the men at Lancaster Prison to give back to the health workers on the frontline of the pandemic.

Some words on the our current situation…

I asked George Sanchez if he had a poem to share during these hard times. He sent me “Kings and Queens,” a poem dedicated to the people in this community. The poem speaks about a hope that is waiting to be awoken. His poetic imagination sears through the reality of everyday life and exposes the dreams living inside himself and us all. I hope his words open our eyes to something beyond what we see today.-Jose

Words From The Deep Core Of My Brown Corazon Available at Urban-Verses.com

“Written while the author was serving time, often in solitary confinement, at one of California’s Youth Correctional Facilities, Words From the Deep Core of My Brown Corazón shares the profound pain, hard-won wisdom, and tenacious hope of a young man struggling to make the transition from gang member to poet. Touching on topics ranging from gangs and violence to music, love, writing and religion, Words From the Deep Core offers an enlightening glimpse into the complexities and contrasts present in a reality that can appear stark and clear-cut when viewed from a distance.” -Alexis Spencer-Byers

Thank you, Dear Donors

Sneak Peek: ArtsUncaged Presents “A World Without Prisons.”

Cal State LA professor Dr. Bidhan Roy and Dimitri Chamblas, Dean of the Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance at CalArts, created ArtsUncaged, a WordsUncaged program that focuses on teaching incarcerated people to express themselves through dance and theater performance. “A World Without Prisons,” their inaugural performance, will take place early this summer. Stay tuned for more information.

- 2/10/2020

The Day of Peace and Reconciliation on C Yard at Calipatria State Prison

On January 30th 2020, the men on C yard, a level 3, general population yard, at Calipatria State Prison celebrated The Day of Peace and Reconciliation. Claudio R. Jimenez gave a speech on the day of the event. Here is his speech in full:

This event is being recognized as the day of peace and reconciliation throughout the California prison system; To me representing a second chance, or in my case 100th chance! It brings to mind the origin of the objective to build prison in the first place—For reformation/reconciliation!

The word penitentiary is derived from the penitence/penitent, which is another word for repentance, which literally means a turn-around in ones thought process/a changing of the mind. This principle can be applied in all aspects of life! One can choose to lay to rest all past adversities—be at peace, if you will—from all things beyond ones control that would otherwise hinder any kind of reconciliation. Without peace there can be no reconciling, and without reconciling there can be no foundation on which to build or advance from! In the midst of diverse traditions, cultures, and upbringings, implementing peace and reconciliation will always result as fruitful. —Claudio R. Jimenez #AN0001

-2/6/2020

Revisiting “Locked-Up Vietnamese California”

In a Boom California article published in 2018, Tin Nguyen, a Words Uncaged member from Lancaster, gives a detailed account about his life before and during his incarceration. His sentence was commuted at the end of 2019, but unfortunately, ICE detained him after his release. I urge you to read Tin’s remarkable story about immigrating from Vietnam to the United States in the late-70s, gang life in Southern California, and his transformative experience in the Paws For Life program and Words Uncaged.

Building Community With NYC’s The Fortune Society

Imaginations shared + collaboration = a community of hope. This is the recipe for the growing partnership between Words Uncaged and The Fortune Society, a New York City-based social services and advocacy organization committed to successful reentry and promoting alternatives to incarceration. The kinship, started in the summer of 2019, is an activation to “open the airwaves” to artists that are/were creating while in captivity - a proud act of East Coast/West Coast love.

Our collaboration highlights:

•   On Saturday, September 24, 2019, poets from The Fortune Society performed their own work and that of their fellow writers from Words Uncaged on the literary stage of Kaufman Arts District Backlot Festival in Queens, NY.

•   On Friday, October 18, 2019, a workshop, ‘Between In- and Out-Side: Transmission Under The Carceral State’ was held at The Poetry Project in NYC. In it, Fortune artists and members of the pubic explored how transmissions from outside to inside are never fully severed, and asked how they might amplify, uplift and build kinship with writers still inside. Poems created by artists of Words Uncaged were shared. During the session, the group of 20 guests generated their own writing and reflections in response. The work was then shared with the men inside in the weeks following the session.

“ …to get even deeper, these stories and poems being released [is] an awesome exercise in trust for us. But, by far, the best part [is] being able to to work in collaboration with others. [It’s] given us a voice when we did not have one!!! ” — Joel Baptiste, Words Uncaged poet and editor-in-chief, The Upstart at Calipatria State Prison

•   On Saturday November 2, 2019, as part of DrawNow! SaturdayMornings! and on Thursday, December 19, 2019 as part of DrawNow! DibujoAhora! (a bilingual workshop in Spanish and English), people of all ages took part in an interactive event at The Drawing Center in Manhattan. The workshops explored drawing and writing as witnessing. Guided by teaching artist Ada Pilar Cruz and The Fortune’s Society’s Creative Writing Teacher Jamie Maleszka, participants collaboratively engaged with the writings of the men of Words Uncaged. All present generated their own responses, which were then mailed to the men in California.

•   Words Uncaged and Fortune Society also published a collaborative zine thanks to a regrant from the National Book Foundation via the Art for Justice Fund. It features the writing and art from both communities, as well as members of The Kite, a NYC-based nonprofit that facilitates storytelling and creative writing workshops on Rikers Island and in juvenile halls. All artists featured in the collection received a copy. In November of 2019, Fortune also held a community open mic at the agency’s main service center in Long Island City, NY to celebrate the zine’s publication. Fortune and The Kite poets read aloud the works of the Californian writers who could not physically be present. The public event was attended by more than 85 guests.

“ I wish to continue [collaborating] with everyone in NYC and working towards another project to further our understanding of the struggle to reach internal freedom and healing through writing.“  —Ignacio Medina Jr., Words Uncaged poet

California Looks to Expand Bachelor's Programs Behind Bars

In KQED’s The California Report, Vanessa Rancaño writes about a proposed partnership between California State University (CSU) and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) that seeks to expand bachelor's degree programs to prisons across the state. The article cites the success of Cal State University Los Angeles’s bachelor's degree program in Lancaster as the catalyst for the proposed expansion.

"Cal State Los Angeles’ success overcoming the challenges to working inside a prison — from lack of classroom space to technological limitations — demonstrated to [Bryant] Choate (director of the Division of Rehabilitative Programs for the CDCR) that CDCR and CSU could work together to expand B.A. programs. The model also convinced him these programs could serve as regional hubs, allowing qualified incarcerated students to transfer in from other prisons in the area.”

The article features photographs from inside Lancaster and quotes from Dr. Bidhan Roy and Allen Burnett.

2019 Hauser & Wirth Holiday Market

Words Uncaged representing at Hauser & Wirth's third annual Holiday Market – a diverse gathering of over 40 LA-based makers, artists, performers and nonprofits. 

Just as the holiday season was picking up, Words Uncaged participated in Hauser & Wirth’s Annual Holiday Market on the 14th and 15th of December. Like LIT LIT, this event was hosted at the Hauser & Wirth Gallery in the Los Angeles Arts District. As weather started to get nippy in Los Angeles, it was nice to see the faces of families gingerly walking along the gallery, stopping to pick up gifts for their loved ones. We were ready with a second lot of the journals that were hand bound by the men in Lancaster and, like last time, the journals were a hit. Our booth also featured copies of Disconnected/Reconnected: Writing from Lancaster Prison, art prints, tote bags, and some of George Sanchez’ poetry books.

As usual, I find myself taking in these moments of community by observing those around me. As I watched José (Cubias) and Tobias (Tubbs) share the mission of the Words Uncaged project with curious passersby, I recalled reading Tobias’ work three years ago before ever having met him. He warmly greeted kind faces who he met at LIT LIT in the summer and graciously took pictures with whoever asked. George (Sanchez) was tasked with sharing our updated www.WordsUnacaged.org website by writing it on the back of bookmarks designed by José. As I tried to snap pictures of George at work, he let me know that he was writing in very particular style so people could see that his penmanship was an artform. He took a menial task and made art with it, much like he does with his poetry.

By the afternoon, George had signed several of his books and written on the back of many bookmarks—Always with a smile on his face. At some point, he returned to the Words Uncaged booth excited about having met another poet. To support her, he decided to purchase a copy of her book at the Holiday Market. He had no idea he interacted with Yesika Salgado, author of Corazon, Tesoro, and Hermosa. She also happens to have about 122K Instagram followers. I thought about how sincerely brave George is after we shared that exchange. While asking me why he hadn’t seen any of my hustle that day, he reminded me of the significance and value behind the work of Words Uncaged. He was right. I was too busy watching him, and Tobias, and Jeff (Stein) and everyone else who was helping. I was taking in the all of the work everyone involved with Words Uncaged does to keep the little engine running. I rubbed my hands over the beautiful painted canvas covers of the handbound journals, smiled when I came across an illustration of Nelson Mandela, and reflected on the success of the organization over the years. All of your hard work and support is invaluable.

Spring 2019

English Graduate students have teamed up with the American Communities Project and the Engineering department this year to create a replica of a life-size prison cell. With the insight and direction of Tobias Tubbs, Quinnie Gernay Jr. and Jeff Stein, three individuals whose LWOP sentences were recently commuted and who have joined the WU team on campus, we have been able to begin the process of building this cell, which we plan to display at several on and off campus events during the Spring and Summer 2019 semesters.

Our plan is to fill the inside of the cell with the poetry, letters and art of our currently and previously incarcerated WU members, some of who are still serving LWOP sentences at Lancaster prison. Graduate students also hope to contribute academic research on the history of prison-reform activism in the exhibit. The purpose of the project is to initiate dialogue about the many short- comings of our current justice system and to bring the too often unheard voices of those inside our prisons into the public discourse at large.

Fall 2019

Despite a new focus on expansion and financing, Words Uncaged remains a program dedicated, first and foremost, to amplifying the voices of the previously and currently incarcerated, their friends and family and the grass roots activists which made Words Uncaged what it is today, which is why we decided to host a community Potluck at Ernest E. Debbs park this past January.​

We chose to do a potluck style meet-up because our funding is still modest. At first, there was some concern that we wouldn't have enough food or that no one would show up, given everyone's busy schedules, however we ended up with nearly 30 guests and more food than we knew what to do with.

The crowd consisted of formerly incarcerated folks, their friends and families, students and professors. Not only did the potluck provide an opportunity for those of us interested in community activism to connect and exchange ideas, it proved how much is still possible when we come together and make things happen on our own.

Words Uncaged remains a program dedicated, first and foremost, to amplifying the voices of the previously and currently incarcerated.