Exhibition Essay 2

Women’s Incarceration – Trauma, Emotional Support, and Empowerment Through the Arts

In researching this paper – in reading the numbers and statistics, the vast array of opinions about what is wrong with our prison system, why change and reform is so challenging, and then worse, listening to the painful, personal stories of incarcerated women in all corners of the country – I could think of only one thing: I was somehow, despite everything, incredibly lucky. My mother was strong in so many ways. Still, she admitted to me in recent years that she was just too fearful to leave my emotionally, and sometimes physically, abusive stepfather. She was positive, as I am sure that countless abused women are, that if she left him, she would be destitute, homeless, caring alone for her five-year-old from her first marriage and her new infant, my half-sister, on her own with no money, no home, no prospects. Probably living in a bus station or under a bridge, or so she’d convinced herself. And so, she stayed. Over time, my mom became adept at putting him in his place, though the screaming matches could be something to behold. For my sister, Mollie, and me, he was one of two people: Mr. Fun-Loving or Mr. Horrible. Mr. Fun-Loving was the man that our North Phoenix neighborhood knew. He was great with the elderly neighbors, accommodating, and almost always joking. He was the guy that just about everyone liked (even if he was known to have a bit of a temper), and he could turn on Mr. Fun-Loving with us when the mood struck him. Mr. Horrible, however, was the embodiment of his temper. Mr. Horrible was loud, angry, intimidating, and most of all, incredibly cruel. According to Mr. Horrible, my sister and I were ugly, lazy, fat, stupid, worthless. He told me frequently that if I didn’t like the way things were, I should move out. This gem of advice probably began around age eleven or twelve, long before “moving out” was a realistic option.

As I got older and entered high school, I escaped into the theatre department. My interest in theatre began when I realized that I would have to stay after school—a lot—which meant less time in the house. Then I started doing photography for the yearbook and the school paper—more time after school. At home, I stayed in my room and wrote poetry and stories that no one would ever read. The creativity of these things helped me make friendships, but most of all, they provided desperately needed escape. It all helped just enough to get me through until I could actually move out. By the time my sister was in high school, I was gone. She had years left to deal with him.

But then suddenly, he was gone. He died in 1999. I can’t speak for my sister, but I experienced a strange and disturbing combination of relief and sadness. Unfortunately, the effects of his words over all those years did not die with him. For me, I turned his apparent disappointment in me and my anger at myself and the entire situation inward, becoming my worst critic, aiming for perfection in whatever I thought I might be able to control, which was one big illusion because I actually controlled very little. Depression, anxiety, disordered eating, body dysmorphia...that was, and is, my baggage. Mollie had much of the same baggage, but where I chose to mostly dwell in it alone, flitting from therapist to therapist now and then, she attempted a much more significant, bolder life change by joining the United States Army after September 11th, 2001.

What I realize now, all these years later, is how things for me or Mollie could have turned out so much worse. What if, at age twelve, I had just taken his advice and left my house? I certainly entertained the idea more times than I can count. I fantasized about it. But fear kept me there. Where would I have gone, how would I have survived, where would I be now? The emotional trauma we have is rough, and the years do not seem to dilute it much, but the trauma that could have been if we’d made other choices may have been catastrophic. Mollie or I could so easily have been one of the statistics.

According to the Prison Policy Initiative (“PPI”), Nevada's incarceration rate[1] is alarmingly high, standing at 713 per 100,000 people in 2021. This is significantly higher than the national average, with America’s incarceration rate being 664. The next highest international average incarceration rate, the United Kingdom, is shockingly low (by comparison) at only 129 (“Nevada Profile”). Nevada’s overall numbers are shocking, but looking at them more closely reveals a discouraging trend. In a study by Wendy Sawyer for PPI titled, The Gender Divide: Tracking Women’s State Prison Growth, women's prison population growth is outpacing that of men’s prisons in Nevada and 18 other states, and this trend is likely to continue. There are several reasons for this increase, Sawyer contends, including, among other things, over-prosecution of drug offenses and increased jailing of women for supporting themselves through sex work. Another critical factor is the increased criminalization of women’s responses to abuse and gender discrimination; this includes things like mandatory or dual domestic violence arrests when a woman fights back against her abuser, as well as harsher punishments for minor infractions by young females, such as truancy or running away from home, which are often an abused girl’s cry for help or even a means of survival (Sawyer). Additionally, many women entering the prison system are from marginalized populations – poor, people of color, have a mental health diagnosis or history of drug use, or come from an unsafe living environment – and have experienced trauma, whether physical, sexual, or emotional, throughout their lives. In fact, according to an article from MotherJones.com, 86% of female prisoners report experiencing sexual violence during their lifetime (“4 Disturbing Ways Jail Is Much Worse for Women Than Men”).

To break this distressing trend, prisons could provide inmates with adequate support, rehabilitation, and both physical and mental health care. Progressive women’s prison programs, including not only access to high school, college, and vocational education but also a wide array of spiritual, self-improvement, and therapeutic programs that tackle substance abuse, mental health challenges, and the effects of trauma, are critical.

Arts programs are one of the therapeutic initiatives having a particularly positive impact on inmates' mental health and trauma rehabilitation, and these programs are gaining more advocates by the day. These programs offer a safe and comfortable way for incarcerated women to process past abuses and teach them new ways of thinking about their experiences and healthy methods of coping. Arts programs also provide lessons in communicating, interacting socially, and other practical skills applicable to the world outside of prison. More prisons, and particularly women's institutions, should establish arts programs as one vital means of therapy and support for inmates, creating healthier, stronger women and a reduction in recidivism.

Trauma and The Female Inmate’s Experience

Most people will experience a traumatic event in their lifetime. Trauma comes in all shapes and sizes; it may be one single distressing event, such as a bad accident, a natural disaster, or the loss of a loved one, or it may be prolonged experiences lasting months or even years, such as child abuse or neglect, domestic or intimate partner violence, sexual abuse or trafficking, substance abuse, or even war. Today, researchers and doctors know a great deal about the effects of and reactions to trauma. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs notes that stress reactions often include fear, anger, and feeling alert or “on guard.” One may feel detached, have trouble making decisions, or experience upsetting dreams or flashbacks. Effects may also be physical, including problems eating and stomach upset, trouble sleeping, racing heart, headaches, and sweating. Long-term effects such as self-medicating with alcohol and drugs, aggressive behavior, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”) are also common (VA.gov | Veterans Affairs).

Is it any wonder, then, that traumatized, marginalized women are so often on the path to prison? Donna Hylton, incarcerated for 27 years at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York, wrote of her experiences witnessing firsthand the abuse, violence, poverty, and tendency toward harmful and destructive decisions bringing women into Bedford:

Through my involvement with the Family Violence program...I began to understand how abuse shapes our choices, as well as our perceptions of what it is to love and to be loved. During one meeting a reality was revealed: Every single woman among us had experienced abuse at some point in her life. For the first time, I stopped asking “Why am I the only one?” and instead asked “Why am I not the only one? It is undeniable: There is a link between rates of brutal domestic violence and a prison full of wounded, broken, silenced, crying, desperate women (Hylton).

Another often-overlooked fact about women’s experiences as inmates: for a woman with PTSD or a long history of trauma, the mere day-to-day happenings of prison life may be retraumatizing. Trauma often triggers a “fight or flight” response, which is an impossible response to give in to while locked in prison. As Anna Motz discusses on psychologytoday.com, the realities of prison life include the control of women’s bodies, the placement of a myriad of restrictions, forced proximity to dangerous people and situations, and the constant, relentless exposure to noise, light, and often intolerable, uncomfortable conditions. “This focus on controlling women’s bodies, rather than understanding and healing their minds, often leads to destructive patterns of behavior and spikes of antagonism, fear, and aggression in women who are incarcerated,” Motz writes. A triggered inmate cannot escape, and it “...can lead, in turn, to physical responses, including self-harm...Many people dismiss these acts of self-harm as manipulative or attention-seeking, but in closed institutions like prisons or secure clinics, self-harm is a means of communication” (Motz).

How the Arts Can Help

According to Girija Kaimal, an associate professor in Creative Arts Therapies at Drexel University, “Art provides a way to communicate experiences when individuals lack verbal skills or when words are insufficient... Trauma affects the brain’s speech centers and can limit the effectiveness of traditional talk-based therapies.” Professional art therapy, Kaimal continues, began in the mid-20th century as a means of expression in a non-verbal way, initially as a means of therapy for veterans from the two World Wars, as well as special needs children and adolescents. “Art therapy clinicians focus on the process of making rather than the artistic product, which allows our clients to gain insights about their situations and develop inner emotional resilience... Art therapists can channel maladaptive or dangerous instincts into creative products that allow clients to communicate and work through difficult thoughts and complex emotions” (Kaimal).

My sister, Mollie, came back from her deployment to the Middle East a changed woman, one more victim of war and PTSD. She has struggled for years, receiving more varied stress, trauma, and PTSD-related treatments than most of us can ever imagine. Not long ago and of her own volition, Mollie entered an in-patient program to help with worsening PTSD and depression symptoms. After speaking to her about her experience, I learned that some of her most enjoyed treatments in the facility centered around meditation and creativity. She told me that she really enjoyed the arts and crafts time at the program, where she particularly liked working with molding clay. She made herself a linked chain out of clay, each link representing her, her husband, and her children. “While I was in there, it felt sort of like a prison. There were these huge, tall grey walls all around outside; you couldn’t even see the parking lot,” she said, “ So it’s not like I could see or talk to my family, other than a few phone calls, but I needed my family. Maybe it’s silly, but making it made me feel closer to them while I was there.”

To me, it seems logical that arts programs could also aid in rehabilitating inmates, but how does it work, and what are the effects? Professor David Gussak discusses the arts in prison extensively in his blog on psychologytoday.com, and in a 2013 posting titled Art Behind Bars, he puts forth several specific benefits achieved when inmates create art – whether the inmate consciously knows a positive change is taking place or not. These benefits may include better moods, problem-solving, and socialization. It redirects and calms aggressive and violent behavior. The fact that artistic communication is non-verbal aids those inmates who may feel vulnerable and unwilling to talk about their feelings. Art provides emotional escape and effective diversion. He writes, “Whether it is good or bad art is not important. The art allows the expression and exploration of such difficulties without exposing them to others around them” (Gussak).

What Success Looks Like

Art for the Journey: Virginia Women’s Correctional Institute, Maidens, VA

First founded by a small group of artists as an adult art instruction class, it became clear that those seeking classes were looking not only for painting instruction but also for well-being and perspective. Art for the Journey began its flagship program in 2014, bringing art classes to the Virginia Correctional Center for Women. Making art allows these incarcerated women to express their feelings safely, share their life experiences, and gain peace and perspective. In addition, Art for the Journey exhibits individual and group artwork in the community to celebrate the artists’ creativity (Shanks).

In a change of pace from the usual prison environment, students enter an art studio space full of color and light. “It’s the combination of art making and personal engagement that creates what I call the magic,” Mark Hierholzer, President and Founder of Art for the Journey, said in an episode of Virginia Public Media’s The Art Scene, “It’s been said that art making will seek out inside a person those areas that need attention or that are in pain.” Jamie Wigginton, Program Director, added, “They come into the class pretty guarded, pretty quiet, not knowing what to expect. But by the time we’ve been there several times, they start to open up, and once they realize that these people are friendly, and I’m gonna get to make choices here, choices I might not make in the rest of my day...which seems like not much to me and you, but just giving them those privileges and by having awesome conversations with them, they let down and I think it makes their art better, too.” One student named Alexa shared, “Life inside is very dark. It’s a very negative and hard environment because we’re trapped...I’ve been in this class for approximately two years. For the ninety minutes that I’m in the class, I really forget that I’m locked up” (“The Art Scene | Artober | Art for the Journey | Michael Birch Pierce | Episode 2 | PBS”).

A student named Vivian, however, may best explain it: “When I’m painting and I make a mistake, I can’t wait until it dries. I need to fix it while it’s still wet, while it’s early. I can apply that to my life. If I fall short, I need to change what needs to be changed while it’s still fresh” (“A Journey to Self Expression”).

Poetic Justice: Oklahoma, California, Oregon, and Mexico

Poetic Justice began in 2014, initially as a writing workshop by Claire Collins and English teacher Ellen Stackable, in the women’s unit of the Oklahoma County Jail. Since then, programs have spread to five separate correctional facilities and various prisons in California, Oregon, and Mexico. The program initially focused on writing but expanded to include the visual and dramatic arts by 2019. Though the COVID-19 pandemic put in-person classes on hold for a time, it took only a week for Poetic Justice to create a distance learning program. That distance learning option proved so successful that it is now one of Poetic Justice’s leading programs. Poetic Justice has, to date, worked with more than 4,000 incarcerated women (“History — Poetic Justice”).

A sub-project exhibition, Voices On the Inside, came about in 2023 and continues into 2024 as a collaboration with photographer Lisa Loftus. The exhibit combines inmates’ writings, self-portraits, and handmade artworks intending to express incarcerated women's perspectives, experiences, and voices. Founder Ellen Stackable and Loftus thought taking photos of the artists in non-prison-like settings would be enlightening, as most inmates have no recent pictures of themselves since their incarceration. Lisa Black, one of the first inmates in the original Poetic Justice program, shared that at first, the program had to earn its place among the inmates, “When it first came in, we didn't trust it. Really, we have a lot of people that come in and say, 'I'm going to be here and here and here. I'm going to do this for you' — and it doesn't happen. The first thing we noticed is she was true to everything said. Ellen Stackable was honest, and we found out really quick we could trust her.” Black stayed with the program for the duration of her eight-and-a-half-year sentence, “I think the way it works is because they are able to work through the past harm through writing, creativity and art. This is an outlet — one of the only outlets that we have inside corrections.” Black credits the program with helping to maintain a connection and relationship with her two children while incarcerated and is using what the program taught to write a book for children of incarcerated mothers (Hinton).

Art as Purpose

Art of any type, at its core, is an honest and unwavering expression of the self. That expression is essential to everyone, but for women with voices silenced by trauma, mental illness, marginalization, and incarceration, it may be vital to their survival. Being creative in a safe space allows inmates to cleanse their anger, fear, betrayal, and loss. Art creates bonds of community, friendship, and sisterhood that can carry women forward into better things in their lives – whether it is a long life lived unavoidably behind prison walls or a life on a new road leading, hopefully, far away from those walls. Programs all over the country show that arts programs in corrections facilities help inmates’ mental health and that the programs reduce recidivism. Sometimes, all it takes is a purpose to move forward – and why can’t art be that purpose? With adequate support and rehabilitation, women who enter the prison system will be empowered to break the cycle of incarceration and lead fulfilling lives.

Essay by Jamie Leonard

Works Cited

“4 Disturbing Ways Jail Is Much Worse for Women Than Men.” Mother Jones, www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/women-in-jails-increasing-faster-than-men-vera-institute-justice.

“Art Therapy.” Past, Present, Prison, 5 Aug. 2016, sites.coloradocollege.edu/hip/art-therapy.

Asbury, Sharee. “Freedom.” Poetic Justice, www.images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f6e4157a0f52f5de869d18a/0e2df0e5-0725-4387-aafb-80336f59e173/Screen+Shot+2023-08-23+at+6.37.52+PM.png?format=2500w.

Crockett, Kristina. “From Violence to Freedom.” Poetic Justice, www.images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f6e4157a0f52f5de869d18a/5a1a360b-e8ef-4e20-8d69-0f3afe801bed/Screen+Shot+2023-08-23+at+6.46.48+PM.png?format=2500w.

Dodson, Kelsey. “My Mind Place.” Poetic Justice, www.images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f6e4157a0f52f5de869d18a/8e846a48-8a0e-4712-8289-ec49dd9df3fe/On+the+Inside-1.jpg?format=1500w.

Gussak, David, Ph. D. ,. ATR-BC. “Art Behind Bars.” Art on Trial, by Psychology Today, 20 Oct. 2013, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/art-trial/201310/art-behind-bars. Accessed 11 May 2024.

Hinton, Carla. “‘Something Sacred Happened.’ Incarcerated Women Find Freedom in Poetic Justice Art Exhibit.” Oklahomian, The Oklahomian, 21 Oct. 2023, www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2023/10/21/oklahomas-incarcerated-women-find-freedom-in-poetic-justice-program/71129164007.

“History — Poetic Justice.” Poetic Justice, www.poeticjustice.org/history.

Hylton, Donna. “The Truth Behind the Growing Number of Women Ending up in Prison - Ms. Magazine.” Ms. Magazine, 21 July 2021, www.msmagazine.com/2021/07/17/growing-number-women-prison-jail-incarcerated.

Jessee. “Risen From the Storm.” Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine: A Journey to Self Expression, medicine.vtc.vt.edu/content/medicine_vtc_vt_edu/en/community/creative-arts/art-for-the-journey-2020/women-in-prison/jcr:content/content/vtmulticolumn_1936856691/vt-items_1/vtcontainer/vtcontainer-content/adaptiveimage.transform/xl-medium/image.jpg.

“A Journey to Self Expression.” Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine | Virginia Tech, www.medicine.vtc.vt.edu/community/creative-arts/art-for-the-journey-2020/women-in-prison.html.

Kaimal, Girija. “How Art Can Heal.” American Scientist, 16 June 2020, www.americanscientist.org/article/how-art-can-heal. Accessed 14 May 2024.

Motz, Anna. “Trauma Reawakened: Women’s Bodies and Imprisonment.” Psychology Today: If Love Could Kill, by Psychology Today, 28 Jan. 2024, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/if-love-could-kill/202401/trauma-reawakened-womens-bodies-and-imprisonment. Accessed 10 May 2024.

“Nevada Profile.” Prison Policy Initiative, www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/NV.html.

Sawyer, Wendy. “The Gender Divide: Tracking Women’s State Prison Growth.” Prison Policy Initiative, by Prison Policy Initiative, 9 Jan. 2018, www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/women_overtime.html. Accessed 14 May 2024.

Shanks, Stephanie. “Prison Art Class - Art for the Journey.” Art For the Journey, 9 Mar. 2021, www.artforthejourney.org/program/painting-art-class.

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Vivian. “Purposely Broken.” Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine: A Journey to Self Expression, www.medicine.vtc.vt.edu/content/medicine_vtc_vt_edu/en/community/creative-arts/art-for-the-journey-2020/women-in-prison/jcr:content/content/vtmulticolumn/vt-items_1/vtcontainer/vtcontainer-content/adaptiveimage.transform/xl-medium/image.jpg.

Wagner, Wendy Sawyer and Peter. “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2024.” Prison Policy Initiative, 14 Mar. 2024, www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2024.html. Accessed 14 May 2024.

[1] According to PPI, the stated United States incarceration rate may include (1) Federal prisons and jails, (2) State prisons, (3) Local jails, (4) Youth/Juvenile facilities, (5) the immigration system, (6) State psychiatric hospitals or mandated substance abuse treatment centers (involuntarily commitment), (7) Native American country jails, (8) Military prisons, etc. Incarceration in this context also includes alternatives to detention, such as electronic monitoring, probation, and parole (Sawyer & Wagner, 2024).

JAMIE LEONARD

SHORT BIO

Jamie is a full-time Paralegal and a part-time Associate of Arts college student who recently relocated to Reno, Nevada, after living in the Northeastern U.S. for 25 years. When she is not working or studying, Jamie enjoys visiting historical sites and museums, writing, photography, rockhounding, and spending quality time with her husband, Shaun, and their two dogs.

calamityjamie@outlook.com