Arts In Corrections

https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/arts-in-corrections-californias-creative-response-to-a-broken-prison-system-0

Established by the California State Legislature in June 1980, Arts-in-Corrections was modeled after the Prison Arts Program launched in 1977 at Vacaville’s California Medical Facility under the direction of the nonprofit William James Association, according to a 1983 report by Larry Brewster, a public policy professor at the University of San Francisco‘s School of Management. The program was initially “designed to improve the quality of the prison experience for both inmates and staff, as well as encourage better institution-community relations through community service art projects and concert series,” Brewster wrote in his introduction to “An Evaluation of the Arts-in-Corrections Program of the California Department of Corrections.”

His report evaluated the effectiveness of Arts-in-Corrections at four institutions — California Medical Facility, Deuel Vocational Institution near Tracy, San Quentin State Prison and Correctional Training Facility in Soledad. Like Brewster’s 2014 report, “California Prison Arts: A Quantitative Evaluation,” it found that benefits to inmates, staff and taxpayers — ranging from improved self-confidence and self-discipline to a reduction of institutional violence — far outweighed the costs.

Opening reception of inmate art and poetry