“For too long, I was a very destructive person. I remember being a small child and destroying my own possessions, because I was angry. This side of me eventually took over and sent my life spinning out of control. A fundamental belief of mine now is that we must have a balance in our lives. So, when I tapped into my creative side, I experienced a huge shift in my life. The ‘destroyer’ disappeared. That is why art is so vitally important to me. And, opportunity comes through the creative process of Art. Opportunity and creativity combined gives an individual hope. Hope fosters strength. And, strength gives us empowerment. (Leslie), you told me to never give up on my art, and I tell you that I don’t think I could even if I wanted to. I see things with a different eye now that I became an artist. I see people differently…even though much more critically, I also see people with far less judgment. There is so much more curiosity in me before my transformation. I want to understand things more, and not just rush into making judgments. Art has given me this quality! ”

“I am just now realizing how being locked up affects us psychologically. I have a lot of side effects called “pains of imprisonment” somewhat akin to what veterans experience with PTSS. Here’s the thing…the longer someone is incarcerated, the more significant the nature of the institutional transformation. Things like alienation and social distancing; lack of spontaneity, virtual distrust of everyone, lack of humor, diminished sense of self-worth, confusion, memory loss, etc. By putting one’s attention to learning, studying, playing an instrument, reading and memorizing lines from a play, creating artwork…it helps to reverse the negative effects.”

“…I think that’s why God gave you a big heart…to care for people who’ve been lost and neglected, and for those who society has discarded for their flaws and mistakes. As if prisoners are the only ones who’ve broken the law, or the only ones who make mistakes. Anyway, if no one has acknowledged that, know that I do and am grateful for people like you who sacrifice so much of themselves to help us keep a hold of our humanity by assuring us through your action that we do matter; and that we can do something to touch people’s hearts”

“Sometimes, we are put in situations where we just feel so hopeless, but I think that it’s those tests of times, times of despair and turmoil that truly define who we are and exemplify that new form of courage that we all have within us to fight for the most beautiful things in life: family, love, happiness, passion, human kindness, etc.”

“Our prisons contain a great number of incredible artists, poets, writers and musicians. Given other circumstances in their lives, any one of these people could have been an important contributor to the cultural consciousness of our society. Living in the prison environment however, the vision of these dreamers has been dimmed by dehumanization, invalidation and the suppression of their artistic expression. The opportunity to have the community that they owe so much to assign value to the work they have pied their hearts and souls into, validates them as human beings and gives them hope that the opportunity to give back may be the beginning of healing for many. Our artists are our dreamers. And, our dreamers create the visions of our future. Let’s support our dreamers and a vision of a better world…even if it happens to come from an unexpected source. This is part of the mission of P.A.T.H.”

“SHU prisoners draw strength from our efforts, or projects and our ability to contribute to something outside of ourselves. In many ways your art projects and shows allow us to draw strength from this, so in many ways, your efforts are like a well of substance in which we can dunk our buckets in, and nurture our essence of what it means to be human. So, I thank you for your work that you have shared, and for what I do not know of your good work.”