In Jail, Writing in Short Bursts as Therapy and Performance Art
The New York Times, September 6, 2023: In Jail, Writing in Short Bursts as Therapy and Performance Art
“Before handing pencil and paper to a group of inmates who attended one of his recent writing workshops in jail, Nate Johnson shared three things about his past.
“He is a recovering alcoholic.
“He has battled depression and anxiety for much of his life.
“‘And I used to be a prosecutor,’ Mr. Johnson disclosed, adding a quick caveat. ‘I didn’t like that kind of work, and I didn’t do it for very long.’
“Then came instructions for free writing, a technique Mr. Johnson brings to jails in the Minneapolis area some 40 times per month, tapping into what he has come to see as an extraordinary pool of literary talent brimming with insights about the criminal justice system.
“Immediately after hearing a simple prompt, inmates were told to write furiously, without interruption, for five minutes. The prose didn’t have to make sense. It needn’t be good. The only goal was to turn the sequence of thoughts generated by each prompt into a string of sentences without stopping to think.
“The first of three prompts was ‘patience.’ Then came ‘hard times.’ And finally, ‘this city.’
“After each burst of writing, the inmates took turns reading their compositions out loud. Some spoke sheepishly, barely above a murmur. Others, like Aaron Schnagl, delivered their work with theatrical flair.
“‘Patience — sometimes I think we’re patients of the system, like good genes and good luck maybe missed us,’ Mr. Schnagl, 39, read. ‘Home of the brave, where you’re born a slave, and your own country treats you like an infidel.’”
Additional reading:
Kare11, January 11, 2022: Former prosecutor teaches writing to help jail inmates choose better paths
The New York Times, April 17, 2023: For the American Prison Writing Archive, a ‘Shadow Canon’ Sheds Light
