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Doing Our Time on the Outside
100 Stories Project
In Partnership with the Humanities Institute at Stony Brook University, the Criminology Program at Hofstra University, Prison Families Alliance, and Humanities New York
Doing our Time on the Outside, Prison Family and Reentry Voices for a Change, a project funded by Humanities NY, takes its title from a groundbreaking book by Barbara Allan, founder of Prison Families Anonymous, written in a Herstory workshop that brought together high school students with parents in prison, law students and criminal justice system reformers.
The Visit by Gwynne Duncan
Beginning in the summer of 2022, Herstory workshop facilitators have been inviting justice-impacted writers to help change the narrative of incarceration. With support from Humanities New York, Herstory facilitators have partnered with staff at prisons, re-entry programs, youth programs, and shelters to invite some of our society’s most marginalized writers to this platform. We are more than halfway to our goal of collecting 100 stories, and already we can see how listening to individual experiences of incarceration changes our hearts and minds—now it is up to us to help these stories change policy.
It is our hope that the stories generated by this project will be widely read and passed from one person to another, through our websites and the websites of our partners in carceral justice reform, though social media and newsletters, that they will be taught in criminology classes, used to train correction officers and police, and in presentations to legislators, probation, and parole officers, and shared with people impacted behind and beyond bars.
The first step in these efforts is to share these stories with you—our readers! While we are waiting for many pieces to be approved by several different Departments of Correction—a necessary step that both challenges and motivates this project—we are delighted to begin sharing work from writers on the outside. Our first collection of stories includes memories from people living in shelters in Denver, participants in youth and reentry programs on Long Island, and members of Prison Families Alliance, STRONG Youth, and formerly incarcerated people who have worked with Herstory over the years. We invite you to listen to these writers by reading their work and to please spread the word!
Story Topics
We invite you to view a pdf version of the zine I Don't Really Know Where to Start, which compiles stories about incarceration written by people living in shelters across Denver.
Paintings by Gwynne Duncan www.gwynneduncan.com/
Humanities Institute at Stony Brook University
Stories
The Turn Around
Victoria
For as long as I can remember I was affected by the criminal justice system. I would visit my uncles, brothers, and cousins with my grandmother and mother, who both, no matter what they did, supported them. From a very young age I was able to see the effects it took on my family financially as well as mentally. Watching my mother raise her children with the help of her mother showed me that in the event of an emergency never fold. I witnessed my brother in 1980 being dragged out of his bed by the police.
The Struggle is Real
Kat
It’s 2AM on a Monday morning. I hear “Robbins get your stuff, you’re out.” I’m half asleep when the guard tells me this, so I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming or not. Then she yells at me a second time to hurry up. I jumped out of my bunk, grabbed my blanket, pillow and bag with all the standard issued jail items they gave me at booking & I was out the door.
Untitled
Niki
There was a chill in the air as I walked to my cab. I had been waiting for this moment for 3 years. As I got in and we pulled away from the place I called home, my stomach got queasy and I felt nauseous. As we went down the mountain side, I watched the world go by. When we made a turn, the contents that were in my stomach ended up on the floorboard and a wave of heat hit my face from embarrassment. I got this fear of dread because of the unknown that lay ahead.
Release Date
Lakiesha Smith
The day seemed like it would never get there. October 4th was right around the corner and I was finally being released from prison. I swear it felt like I was never getting out and I only had 18 months. It was women in there serving life sentences that was never going home. I still think about them to this day. Are they ok? Are they still sane?
Just a Simple Phone Call
Cassandria Ramona Faircloth-Carmouche
That one and only phone call that could have been made, that should have been made wasn’t made. Why? The guilt, shame, and embarrassment from where I was actually located kept me from making that phone call. The caller ID would read Van Cise-Simonet Detention Center. How could I make a collect call to my father saying I was in custody and going to jail.
Trusting the Process
Anonymous
My name is --------. Living in a house with both my parents and my six siblings was very challenging. We all had a good life. My parents took good care of us, we had what we needed. They were very strict parents. Watching my brothers and sister go through their ups and downs with the law, going in and out of jail, I remember going to visit my brothers in prison and it was not a nice place to go.
My Favorite C.O.
Wanda Beriguette
Mean, shrewd, loud, aggressive and disrespectful were some of his qualities according to the average inmate. For me, the list was more like charming, handsome, intelligent, sweet, considerate and amazing lover. I saw him send women to solitary for just speaking to him louder than he would have liked so I understood their logic but to me, he was everything.
