Project News
Inside & Out: The Humanities and Mass Incaceration
The Prison Story Project is proud to have been selected to represent Arkansas in the Illinois Humanities convening for state humanities councils at the Inside & Out: The Humanities and Mass Incarceration The Conference is Thursday, March 14-Saturday, March 16, 2024...
Remembered Voices From the 2017 Mass Arkansas Executions
Seven years ago, on April 27, 2017, Rev. Kenneth Williams was the last of four men executed on Arkansas' death row. The Prison Story Project team came to know and love Kenneth when we worked with him and ten other men in a storytelling/creative writing program for six...
Reviews from the Incarcerated Women’s Bookclub on Molly Brodak’s Book, “Bandit”
Our Creative writing director, Jane Blunschi, recently concluded a 4-week book study of "Bandit" with incarcerated women here in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Several of our book club members were so moved by Molly's book they wanted to encourage others to read it and were...
Testimonials
Stories From the Inside Out...was...incredible. Amazing. Moving. Touching. So many adjectives and they are all inadequate. The women's words have been turned into an exquisite performance by five actresses. They touch a truth and authenticity that is so moving - one moment hilarious, the next horrifying, the next inspiring. You will leave inspired by the new life and resurrection these women articulate.
Lowell GrishamI have attended both prison stories project performances at St. Paul’s, and I think they are some of the most powerful performances I have ever seen. I am struck by the fact that the women creating these stories face so many problems that stem from domestic abuse. As director of the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter, I see our clients face many of the same struggles and barriers to a healthy and productive life. This is such an empowering project, both for those women participating and for all of us as an audience.
Melanie PalmerSeveral of my students attended the most recent Prison Stories event. I notified them of the event because they had an assignment they could use it in conjunction with. So far, the feedback is pretty moving. Several of them even shared that the event changed their perspective on individuals who are incarcerated from “they are a danger to society” to “they are people with stories and experiences.” I felt I needed to pass that along. I am proud of the work that you do in our community and very thankful for you.
Carly FranklinThank you to the Prison Story Project for existing. This last performance was the 3rd (or 4th?) time I’ve had the opportunity to empower these women by voicing and valuing their lives through the performance of their brave and beautiful words. I wish everyone could be in my shoes during the prison performance when the healing power of art is almost tangible in a small, cinder-blocked room filled with 100 women in yellow. Thank you to the NWA audience that turned out in droves to hear these women’s stories.
Laura ShatkusWhat a powerful message delivered at St. James Church recently. It was riveting. It was not long into the presentation [of On the Row} that the readers were no longer actors, but the actual men from death row.
What the inmates wrote causes us to think about the cruelty of the death penalty and how much harder society should work to eliminate it.
Thank you for telling this story in such an attention getting manner. It was an excellently done dramatic presentation which could not have been done without the inmates thinking deeply and writing about their lives and impending deaths. Tell them thank you for me.
Joseph A. BaylesI found the reading very moving, and at times, too much moving inside of me so quickly to hold on to it the way I would have liked to. As a person of faith, I found all sorts of faith questions/realizations going off inside of myself. And, as someone whose death penalty work has taken me inside a prison on the day of an execution, there were connections with that case also.
Blessings to you as move into the next phase of this project!
Donna Schneweis