Rehabilitation Through the Arts: Breaking the cycle of incarceration | Global News Avenue

Sing Sing Correctional Facility is 40 miles from New York City, a world away. For nearly 200 years, it was a grim monument to the theory that harsh discipline would deter former prisoners from returning to a life of crime.

This is a flawed theory. A nationwide study by the U.S. Department of Justice found that 60 percent of ex-offenders were back incarcerated within three years.

That’s why the movie Sing is so resonant.

Before he got into acting, Clarence McLean (later known as God Eye) was a violent, knife-wielding, drug-dealing inmate at Sing Sing Prison. Now, he’s reprising his role in a critically acclaimed film about a prison drama program. The film stars Hollywood veteran actor Colman Domingo. In fact, 85% of the actors in the film have been incarcerated.

“I love this movie,” McLean said. “I love the way people react, accept and embrace it.”

“Well, this must be a big change for you,” I said. “You’ve always been an outlaw, now you’re a star.”

“Yeah, it’s a big change. It’s a beautiful thing.”

On a recent evening in November, we visited Sing Sing Prison with MacLean and John Whitfield, who he credits with his transformation. Whitfield, known as Divine G, is an award-winning writer in prison and a founding member of the Sing Sing Theater Project. “If it hadn’t been for this brother and his insistence that I join this program, I might still be in and out of prison and never change my life,” McLean said.

Whitfield said it took some work to get McLean into the RTA program, or Rehabilitation for the Arts: “But he eventually came to his senses. He came to his senses, he experimented, and the minute he got on stage, he was bitten “I can’t shut up this bug!” “

The two clergymen, who have been away from Xin Xin for more than a decade, returned as guests to meet with members of the current RTA class and several civilian volunteers.

Perhaps nowhere in the world is the true God better known and more widely admired than here.

The actors stood in a circle for warm-up exercises, and the saints immediately jumped to their feet. “It’s definitely about communication, about maintaining eye contact,” McLean said. “We use this particular exercise so that when we’re on stage we try not to cross everyone’s boundaries, so you have to pay attention.”

Each participant sang “chicken…fried…rice” and jumped around in circles, faster and faster, until they were laughing. One man said: “It helps you remember where you come from because we only have chicken fried rice!”

Laughter can be especially jarring for the victim of a crime or the victim’s family. What does society gain (more bluntly) from these RTA schemes?

Here’s the answer: A staggering 60 percent recidivism rate for inmates who return to prison three years or less after release from prison, compared with only 3 percent for those who continue in arts rehabilitation programs.

When Holy G got involved with RTA, success was still a big question: “Some people looked at us like we had four heads. Are you crazy? Are you on stage? Talk about “to be or not to be”? We didn’t force feed it that fast. You know we have to do this step by step. “

None of this would be possible without the help of outside volunteers. Brent Buell volunteered at Sing Sing almost 20 years ago to direct the drama at the heart of the film. “Little by little, getting into character, taking that first step of empathy, I would see these people eventually saying to each other, ‘How do you think your character feels?'”

Burr recalled the characters his actors wanted to play: “They said they wanted to work with Robin Hood. They wanted to work with the Egyptians. They wanted to work with the Old West. They wanted to work with Freddy Krueger. They wanted to To work with Gladiators.”

They wanted a comedy that didn’t exist. So Bull wrote the book for them over a long weekend and called it “Breaking the Mummy Code.”

Bull recalls one particular breakthrough moment: “In the play, the story takes place during the Black Death, and people are dying. The Egyptian priest Alotin Koman says the bodies are starting to rot. One of the men inadvertently releases the bodies. Come out.” A very…loud voice. “

In other words, he farted. “Then the guys started laughing. Okay, so Everyone It’s making, you know rotten sounds and stuff. They are all allowed to be funny. That was really a turning point for the whole cast to start realizing that this was a comedy and we could really have a lot of fun with it. ”

I said, “In any case, I don’t think this will convince America that we have found a solution to the criminal problem.”

“What gives them confidence is the development of trust, respect, empathy when they meet these people and are able to talk – these are different people than they were before,” Buell said.

He recorded the original composition so the men could share it with their families.

That was 2005, and Brian Fischer, then a director at Sing Sing, recalls that some of his employees were a little skeptical: “Are all those people going on? But as time went on, , the staff accepted them, and more importantly, other offenders in the prison accepted them, and they became people that others wanted to follow, which changed the atmosphere in the prison and reduced the tension.”

Fisher, now retired, continues to serve as New York State prison warden. “I think over time we’ll be able to put it in other prisons and the fact that it’s now acceptable – drama, art, music is now acceptable in prisons where, up to now, prisons were No need for it.”

Prison life often discourages expression of emotion. The RTA allows this. Demetrius Sampson told us, “I was gone for so long that I forgot what it felt like to be free. But when I came to RTA, I felt free again. I put all my The regret, the angst and the confusion were all left at the door. I was able to come in and portray a character who had a free-guy problem.”

Lifer Tim Walker said playing Macbeth 13 years ago was a life-changing experience. “‘Fate supports me in saying this.’ That’s what ‘Macbeth’ did to me, it was my first time on stage – a man convicted of murder changed my life ”

“The public sees us as the problem and the RTA sees us as the solution,” Michael said.

“I’m here to inspire you, to inspire you, and I’m inspired by you,” Clarence McLean said. “Your humanity is immortal. You kids are the giants here.”

Nothing more than a promise that they could be different people.

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Story by Deirdre Cohen. Editor: Ed Givenish.