ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors begin with a brief discussion of incarceration’s harms, and describe how their projects counter those harms. Incarceration also harms through deprivation of relationships, a harm obscured by the individualistic focus. Through reading, listening, and responding, the women forge relationships that challenge the isolation and lack of trust that incarceration fosters. The authors aim to encourage participants to develop their creative potential and gain insight through writing about their lives. They focus on positive connections with others through sharing writing; and contribute to creating consciousness and solidarity that can lead to social change. The environment of the writing groups engenders a willingness to share, to be vulnerable. Writing groups alone are not engines of societal transformation, but these and similar projects have potential to foster both personal liberation and social change within the confines of prisons and jails and beyond.
