360 Degrees: Perspectives on the U.S. Criminal Justice System
Web site by Picture Projects based on interviews with prisoners, victims, prison and parole officers, lawyers, judges, parents. Panoramic movies of environments, audio diaries (with NPR), transcripts, photos, prisons info, quizzes, polls.

Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project
Offers classes in arts and humanities to individuals incarcerated in several central Alabama correctional facilities. Also works with 13 prison libraries to develop reading material. Program of the Center for the Arts & Humanities at Pebble Hill in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University. Web site has student work, teacher bios.

American Correctional Association
Membership organization for corrections professionals, students, retired persons, interested citizens, organizations/institutions and corporations. Conferences, conventions, online Corrections Academy, professional certification, training, publications research. Web site has healthcare professional interest section. A Cross-Sector Resource.

An Evaluation of an Arts Program for Incarcerated Juvenile Offenders
Three-year study on recidivism and violent-incident rates in "A Changed World," an intensive art program at a juvenile facility. Found positive outcomes. Written by Mark Ezell and Michelle Levy, published by Journal of Correctional Education, 2003.

An Evaluation of the Arts-in-corrections Program of the California Department of Corrections
Often-cited 1983 cost-benefit report on the AIC program. Finds that society and institutions in the study benefited by significantly reduced rates of behavioral-code violations; prison racist incidents were lowered, rate of recidivism declined sharply, cooperation with staff and family increased. Estimates that the program's $162,790 cost generated benefits worth $228,522 in the four prisons studied. Written by Lawrence Brewster, published by William James Association, 1983 (posted on Web 2007; downloadable as .pdf file).

Art Behind Bars
Prison-art program in Key West, Fl., founded by artist Lynne Vantrigilia at Monroe County Detention Center in 1994. Promotes post-incarceration arts careers and cottage industries for inmates. Art for sale on site.

Art for Justice
Pennsylvania-based organization founded by social worker Ann Marie Kirk to support and exhibit the art of incarcerated individuals "to promote dialogue and find effective ways to prevent crime, reduce levels of incarceration improve the criminal-justice system & public safety." Sales of artwork online, Road Map for Life workshops engaging adjudicated youth, annual Art for Justice Exhibit.

ArtSpot Productions
Multidisciplinary performance company based in New Orleans, La. projects include LCIW Drama Club, a theatre company of inmates at Louisiana Correctional Institute for Woman, founded by Kathy Randels in 1996, co-directed by Ausettua Amor Amenkum.

ArtSpring
Founded by Leslie Neal in 1992, provides specifically designed arts-based programming to women in correctional facilities and girls in the juvenile justice system and foster care. ArtSpring offers "Inside Out," the longest ongoing arts in corrections program for incarcerated women in the state of Florida.

Artists of Tuol Sleng Prison
Writing and artwork by artists imprisoned in Cambodia. Part of the Cambodian Artists Assistance Project, organized by Cambodian holocaust survivors in U.S.

Arts Programs for Juvenile Offenders in Detention and Corrections
1999-2000 partnership of NEA and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Program/U.S. Department of Justice supporting arts projects for youth during and after incarceration.

Arts in Corrections Resource List
Listing of resources concerning arts programming in correctional settings compiled by the Office for Accessibility at the National Endowment for the Arts.

Arts in Criminal Justice Settings: Research and Evaluation
15-case study evaluations of arts programs working with offenders in U.K. Shows correlation with reduction of neighborhood crime, and lower recidivism rates among participants. Written, published by The Unit for Arts and Offenders, 2003.

Arts in Prison, Inc.
Volunteer-run, Kansas-based prison arts program that began with East Hill Singers, a joint inmate-volunteer choir, in 1996. Now offers prison arts classes including African-American History, visual arts, drama, creative writing, plus yoga, horticulture therapy, public speaking, more. Founded by Elvera Voth "and her dream to teach inmates to sing."

Changing Lives Through Literature
Alternative sentencing program requiring offenders to read as a condition of probation. Based at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth English Dept. Founded 1991 in New Bedford, Mass., by Professor Robert Waxler, Judge Robert Kane and Probation Officer Wayne St. Pierre; replicated nationally and internationally. Site offers instructions on how to start a program, studies and results, instructional materials, court forms and methods, bibliographies, newsletter.

Children's Coalition Inc.
Multimedia arts center for inner-city, at-risk, first-time and repeat offender youth in Palm Beach, Fla.

Children's Prison Arts Project
Nonprofit arts-education organization working in visual and educational theater with juveniles in correctional facilities and shelters in Harris County, Texas. Founded by artist Birgit Walker, 1993.

Combining Bibliotherapy and Positive Role Modeling as an Alternative to Incarceration
A study evaluating Changing Lives Through Literature, a "bibliotherapy" program designed as an alternative to jail. Follows-up the first 32 men to complete the program; matched comparison with group of 40 probationers. Indicates a reconviction rate of 18.75% in the study group, compared with 45% in the comparison group. Includes information from interviews with program participants. Written by G. Roger Jarjoura and Susan T. Krumholz; published in Journal of Offender Rehabilitation (Vol. 28 (1/2), 1998, Pp. 127-139) by Hawthorn Press, 1998.

Community Partners in Action
Nonprofit organization in Hartford, Conn., providing services that promote accountability, dignity and restoration for people affected by the criminal justice system. Began in January 1875 as the Friends of Prisoners Society. Prison Arts Program: art classes at correctional institutions throughout the state, annual exhibition, Journal of the Prison Arts (published annually).

Community Works West
Nonprofit organization based in Berkeley, Calif., concerned with "the effects of soaring incarceration rates on communities, impacting not only the offending individuals but also families, neighbors, and survivors of crime." Education and community building programs, artist residencies in jail and post-release facilities, quarterly magazine The Issue, Project WHAT! (We're Here And Talking) youth-led initiative for youth with incarcerated parents, Works with San Francisco Sheriff's Department's Resolve to Stop the Violence Project (RSVP), Soapstone Theater Company, REST: Read and Educate to Stay Together family literacy program for incarcerated women. Directed by Ruth Morgan.

Cultural Odyssey
Arts organization run by artists Idris Ackamoor, producer of San Francisco's African American Performance Festival, and Rhodessa Jones, director of the Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women. Offers training in community arts techniques.

Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project
Offers stage rights to Tim Robbins' play "Dead Man Walking" to high schools and colleges who agree to incorporate the issue of the death penalty into their curriculum in two academic departments. Web site offers dozens of tools for play production and discourse on the subject, including a blog, on-campus initiatives, local outreach and national and regional links. An initiative of the Death Penalty Discourse Network.

Galleries of Justice
Museum of the National Centre for Citizenship & the Law (private charity) in Nottingham, England. Key objective: to "Keep Kids Away from Crime and Out of Prison" through experiential leanring in history and citizenship. In historic Lace Market; in use as courts and prisons from 1780s-1980s; court on site since 1375, prison since 1449. Crime & Punishment Tour, HM Prison Service Collection, Narrow Marsh Familiy Activities, school programs.

Gateless Gate Zen Center
Gainesville, Florida, organization with volunteer programs in 11 state and federal prisons throughout North Central Florida, ranging from local jails to Death Row, where they share their Zen practice. Programs: retreats, book distribution, Spanish/English translations, inmate writings posted on Web (including writing by an executed prisoner), Mind Body Stress Reduction, links to prison activism and the Prison Dharma Network. A Cross-Sector Resource.

Geese Theater Company (U.S.)
"Drama therapy in criminal justice." Historic company providing training in drama therapy with violent and sex offenders; drama and art work as restorative justice mediators. Projects in seven countries, including Roumania. Founded1980 by John Bergman.

Geese Theatre Company (U.K.)
Prestigious company working within Criminal Justice System. Performances, workshops, groupwork in prisons, special hospitals and probation encouraging self-awareness and exploring change. Founded 1987, based on Geese Theater U.S.A.

Hospital Audiences
Provides arts programs to New Yorkers who "are isolated from the cultural mainstream," including people in hospitals, shelters, prisons, etc. Exhibitions of art by self-taught artists with mental disabilties. Cultural events, workshops, prevention education, youth leadership, advocacy, schools programs. Founded 1969 by Michael Jon Spencer.

Jackson County Children's Services Coalition Core Arts Program Evaluation
Profile of two program evaluations conducted by Cleveland in Jackson County, Miss., with statistical results of performance improvement in staff and youth participants. Also includes reduction in referral rates for youth involved in juvenile justice system.By William Cleveland, Center for the Study of Art and the Community, 2002.

Judith Tannenbaum
Writer with extensive experience in arts-in-corrections and teaching in all kinds of schools. Training coordinator of San Francisco Writerscorps. Author of "Disguised as a Poem: My Years Teaching Poetry at San Quentin." Site is excellent link to prison poets, journalists, teaching in prison and prison issues.

Mississippi Arts Commission Core Arts Program
Programs in detention centers, adolescent offender programs, alternative schools, holding facilities, and community-based after-school and summer programs using the arts to decrease violence and recidivism, and increase school attendance and positive experiences with adult mentors.

Music Theatre Workshop
Youth-arts development organization teaches disadvantaged young people writing, producing, and performing original musical theater inspired by personal stories. Works in schools, parks and juvenile prisons in metro Chicago area. Programs: Teens Together; Fabulous Females (for young women incarcerated at Illinois Youth Center at Warrenville); Temporary LockDown (storytelling, movement, drumming workshops for young men/women students at Nancy B. Jefferson Alternative School, Cook County Juvenile Detention Center. Founded 1984 by Meade Palidofsky.

NC Women's Prison Writing and Performance Project
Weekly workshops in writing and performance. Public performances by WomenÕs Prison Repertory Company. Based at Jordan Institute for Families at School of Social Work of UNC-Chapel Hill.

Nancy B. Jefferson Literacy and Creative Media Program
Program at Nancy B. Jefferson Alternative School providing print- and media-literacy skills-enhancement programs to young people detained in Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago, Ill. Programs in tutoring, creative writing, publishing, digital image manipulation, sound editing and sequencing, web design, maintenance of personal computers from the inside out, including building them from scratch. Library, volunteer coordination, school-wide events, seminars. Excellent links to activism in "prison industrial complex" issues.

New York State Arts In Correctional Education Network
Network of educators and artists concerned with education in correctional institutions in New York State. Aims to develop a support community and a network of resources; facilitate dialogue and collaboration among arts organizations, artists and correctional education programs; support artists and arts organizations with knowledge and training needed to better serve correctional education. Administered by Dale Davis, executive director, New York State Literary Center. Reading resource list, listserv, links, questions for discussion.

New York State Literary Center
Founded 1979 by Dale Davis and A. Poulin Jr. One of the first upstate New York arts organizations to send writers into public schools on a regular basis: 250 writers and artists worked with 30,000 children in 500 rural, urban and alternative schools. Projects: High School Literary Magazine; AIDS ‘N US, a peer-directed high-school AIDS-education project; The High School Research Paper A New Approach: Books, Photography, and Video; programs for teachers on children and divorce, race, war; Arts, Literacy and The Classroom Community, serving incarcerated adolescents; The Communications Project, writing program for at-risk youth and publisher of books, CDs, theater pieces.

PEN Prison Writing Program
Annual writing awards for prisoners. Open to anyone incarcerated in a federal, state or county prison. Sponsored by PEN American Center.

Pat Graney Company
Dance/theater company based in Seattle, Wash. Includes dance in prisons.

People's Palace Projects
NGO with arts/human rights projects. In Brazil: "Changing the Scene" in/outside juvenile justice system in Rio and "Staging Human Rights" in prisons across five states. In U.K.: "Lives Online" year-long performance, visual-art and Web-design program with teenagers excluded from school.

Prison Arts Foundation
Northern Ireland organization working with offenders in prison and the burgeoning population of ex-offenders released under 1998's Good Friday Agreement. Projects in all media in self-expression and work training.

Prison Arts Network
Network of artists working to provide access to arts for all prisoners. Web site is excellent resource for news, articles, photos and links to the field of arts and corrections worldwide.

Prison Creative Arts Project
Committed to original work in the arts in Michigan correctional facilities and juvenile detention centers, presenting prison artists in theate and dance performances and visual art; exhibits are online. Directed by Buzz Alexander.

Prison Poster Project
Collective of artists & activists working in collaboration with U.S. prisoners. Creating a portable mural to be used by prison activists, educators, the incarcerated and community leaders. Mission: "To create a public education tool to expose how the prison industrial complex affects our diverse communities and to challenge current reliance on prisons as a solution to social problems."

PrisonArts.info
Resources on arts programs in prisons, jails and juvenile detention centers across U.S. Searchable directory; bibliography of articles, books, films, radio documentaries, Web sites; a history of arts in prisons. Developed by Krista Brune with Victoria Sammartino and VoicesUnBroken.

Prisons Foundation
Nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that promotes the arts and education in prison and alternatives to incarceration. Prison Art Gallery showcases prisoners' artworks (1600 K Street NW, Suite 501, open daily). Cosponsor of Annual Victims’ Forum organized by the National Organization for Victim Assistance. Web site has publications, music, newsletter, links to prison art resources.

Prodigy Cultural Arts Program
A.k.a Tampa Arts & Youth Demonstration Project. Youth arts program focused on evidence-based practice. Integrates artistic instruction, case management, program management and research into a coherent, replicable model. Based in Tampa, Fla., a project of University Area Community Development Corporation in collaboration with University of South Florida School of Social Work, Bay Area Youth Services, community and faith-based organizations. Funded by Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.

Prometheus Dance
Modern dance ensemble with community programs in prisons, battered women’s shelters, Alzheimer's Center, public schools. Free, after-school Technical Theatre and Design Program for hearing-impaired and at-risk teens. Elders Ensemble performing in senior centers, healthcare facilities, community events and with the main company in special choreographic projects. Founded 1987 by Diane Arvanites-Noya; directed by Noya and Tommy Neblett. Based in Cambridge, Mass.

Rehabilitation Through The Arts
Founded in 1996 by Katherine Vockins at Sing Sing Maximum Security Correctional Facility in Ossining, N.Y., to help fill the gap left after all publicly funded higher-education and enrichment programs were withdrawn from the New York State Prison system. Prisoner workshops and classes in writing, reading, public speaking, improvisation, acting, directing, stage management, set design. Original plays, monologues and performance pieces performed twice each year for prison population and invited community guests. Site includes "The Impact of RTA on Social and Institutional Behavior" by Lorraine Moller, citing significant improvements in cognitive behavior and a reduction in recidivism. Program of Prison Communities International.

Restorative Arts U.K.
U.K. arts company using drama, music and visual arts to encourage long- and short-term offenders and young people at risk of offending to engage with concepts of responsibility, empathy and tolerance.

Restorative Justice Online
Service of the Centre for Justice & Reconciliation at Prison Fellowship International, a prison ministry founded 1976 by Charles Colson. Nonpartisan source of information on restorative justice, "a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused or revealed by criminal behavior." Resources section devoted to program creation, operation and evaluation, public policy, theory. Searchable database of 5,000 articles. Calendar on RJ conferences worldwide. Newsletter, links. In English, Spanish. French. A Cross-Sector Resource.

Rideout (Creative Arts for Rehabilitation)
Develops innovative, arts-based approaches to working with prisoners and staff within U.K. prisons, mostly Midlands. Drama-based activities leading to performance; programs that explore impact of criminal behaviour on offenders, their families and others. Programs: The Dialogues Project, Restorative Justice Film, The Creative Prison, short courses for inmates on anger management and substance-related offending.

Rock Solid Foundation
Formed by police officers in Victoria, British Columbia, to provide kids with positive solutions to violence, threats, intimidation and aggressive behavior. Includes Trackside Gallery

The Artist Inside Program
Nonprofit art program in a juvenile facility in New Mexico. Taught and facilitated by an all volunteer multidisciplinary team including photographer, multimedia artist and videographer—all educators in the Las Cruces, N.M., community working as college instructor, physician and university professor respectively. Site includes newsletter and gallery.

The Corrections Documentary Project
Web site elaborating issues around "Corrections," a documentary film about the prison-industrial complex by Ashley Hunt. Project continues to grow with additional videos, spefici campaigns and "footnotes" on how ideas of crime and punishment not "natural," but are built upon and coded with politics of race and class.

The Other Side of the Wall
"Prison Law" site by Arnold Erickson, featuring writings by Death Row inmates and other prisoners, plus a wealth of prison information.

The SageWriters Inc.
Publisher of books "of literary and social merit by prisoners, families, victims, activists, visionaries and progressive corrections professionals working to give an artistic voice to movements for change." Internet radio show, "Healing Justice"; workshops; trainings programs; high-school courses; conferences. Founded by Judith Truestone.

The YouthARTS Development Project: Youth Arts Public Art
Study of a delinquency-prevention collaboration by NEA and U.S. Dept. of Justice and three local arts agencies in Georgia, Oregon and Texas. Written by Heather J. Clawson and Kathleen Coolbaugh; published by Dept. of Justice in Juvenile Justice Bulletin, 2001; republished on CAN, 2001.

Thousand Kites
Storytelling and listening project about the criminal-justice system. Gathering prison-related stories through community story circles, house parties, call-ins to a weekly radio broadcast, a toll-free phone line and interactive script-writing room on the project Web site. They will create a play script from the gathered stories, offered free for use in any community. Project of Appalshop.

Tostan
African grassroots organization using the arts in nonformal education in local languages (the Community Empowerment Program) to educate poor villagers in Senegal and neighboring countries about development and human rights. Uses modern and traditional African oral techniques, including theater, storytelling, dance, artwork, song, debate, and the sharing of personal experience. "Community-led successes" in six countries in West and East Africa: abandoning female genital cutting, ending child marriage, promoting grassroots democracy, improving maternal and child health, preventing and treating malaria and more. Microcredit program, prison project.

Unit for the Arts and Offenders
U.K.-based umbrella organization that supports the development of the arts within criminal justice settings. Focus on prisoner literacy and hard evidence of educational value of prison arts programs. Publications.

Voices UnBroken
Bronx-based community organization that believes "everyone has a story to tell, and that story is important. " Creative writing workshops in prisons, jails, juvenile detention centers and other alternative settings. Founded in 2001 by Victoria Sammartino.

William James Association
Nonprofit organization that promotes work service in the arts, environment, education and community development. Based in Santa Cruz, Calif. Prison Arts Project and Community Youth Arts Project hire professional visual, literary and performing artists to teach in California state prison facilities and work with disenfranchised and "at-risk" youth in alternative schools and detention facilities in and around Santa Cruz. Fiscal Sponsorship Program provides emerging nonprofit groups and community organizations withgrant-related administrative support, tax-exempt status and fiscal sponsorship. Founded 1973 by Page Smith and Paul Lee; named for American philosopher William James, who was concerned with relationship between philosophical thought and social action.

Women and Prison: A Site for Resistance
Volunteer organization making visible women's experiences in the criminal justice system. Art gallery, glossary, resources, reports, essays and links to information on women and prison. Women and the Prison Industrial Complex; Motherhood and Mothers in Prison; State Violence/Private Violence; Sexuality: Stigma and Punishment; Activism and Social Justice: Inside and Outside. A Cross-Sector Resource.

Women@Work
Project of New York's Gina Gibley Dance focusing on domestic violence. Works with Safe Harbor victim-assistance organization.

YouthARTS Development Project
Study of a delinquency-prevention collaboration among federal agencies, national arts organizations and three local arts agencies in Georgia, Oregon and Texas, designed to identify, implement, and refine effective arts-based delinquency prevention programs. Finds that providing youth with new skills, giving them the opportunities to use these skills, and offering them positive feedback and recognition for their hard work can potentially lead to healthier attitudes and positive behaviors. Written by Heather J. Clawson and Kathleen Coolbaugh; published by NEA and U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1995.

pARTners Unlimited
Nonprofit organization based in Des Moines, Iowa, that provides experiential learning through the arts for individuals who are at risk of delinquency or criminal behavior. Long-term programming through partnerships with schools, social-service agencies, community sites, detention facilities, prisons, aftercare programs. Employ professional artists in dance, creative writing, theater, storytelling, visual arts, music and video making.