Handmade in Prison: Part Two - The Prisoners
This is the second part of a two-part series on my visit to the offices of Fine Cell Work and to one of their quilting classes at Her Majesty’s Prison Wandsworth, a men’s prison just outside of London.
For security and privacy reasons, I was unable to take photographs of the prisoners or anything other than a few quilts. There were seven prisoners in the classroom that night and I spoke with each of them about what they have learned by making quilts. Respecting Fine Cell Work’s policy of not asking about the circumstances of their incarceration I only asked each prisoner whether he would be there much longer. Some had years ahead of them. One was to be freed in 18 days.
The prisoners work on their projects in their cells at night. They come to class with the small plastic bags in their hands that contain the needle, thread and fabric pieces that they have been working on for the past week. Teachers marvel at how the prisoners layout their blocks inside their cells. I am amazed at how well they sew with the limited light sources provided in the cells. They only have access to tools and help once a week during the class.
The class takes place in the Vulnerable Persons Unit, which is a unit that separates prisoners who might be vulnerable to abuse if placed in the general prison population. On the way to the unit, I asked what types of crimes the prisoners in this wing had committed and was told “sex crimes.” “Including those against children?” I asked as I thought about my own precious 5-year old daughter. “Yes.” I was told. I reminded myself that no one grows up hoping to become a pedaphile or drug addict.
Here are a few of their stories:
Paul is understandably concerned about his future. He is 50 years old and when I spoke with him was 18 days away from his release. Despite 18 years of service in the British army he is worried about finding employment upon his release. During the day he works in the prison’s tailoring shop and hopes to become a sewing machine repairman upon his release. He joined Fine Cell Work’s quilting class three and a half months ago and is proud of his green hourglass quilt. He showed me with pride the pillow cover that he made with the leftover blocks. “I like building it up from nothing,” he says.
Henry, one of the group’s newest members, is 56 years old. With two more years of his sentence left he finds that quilting enables him to “put his mind on something else useful.” Once released he hopes to make a quilt with all of his family’s initials embroidered on it. He says the money he hopes to earn from the sale of his quilt will be useful upon his release. As he proudly holds up his nine-patch block I notice his wedding ring and think about his wife or partner.
Damon says that he’s tired because he’s got three more days until his next blood transfusion. At 24, he’s a recovering drug addict who also suffers from Sickle Cell Anemia. “I’ve never felt as clean in my whole life as I have here,” he says of his time in prison. I realize that although he’s young enough to be my son, he has fought more demons in his young life than I can even imagine. His quilting “takes his mind off things.” During the day he cleans the visitors’ waiting room. In six weeks he will be released and he cannot figure out how he is going to rebuild his life. He makes less in a week at the prison than he did in an hour at the bar where he worked before he was incarcerated. Although he has only ever worked in bars, he knows that with his history of addiction he cannot return there. He enjoys quilting with bright colors and is particularly proud of the baby quilts he made with very small pieces in the shape of a large heart.
Philip became a Listener at the prison. Although a prisoner himself, he underwent special training to counsel other inmates who are coping with depression or having a difficult time adjusting to prison life. At any time of the day or night he might be called to any prisoner’s cell so he can listen in confidence to someone who might be contemplating suicide. He quilted for one year because it was “nice to be able to create something quite beautiful.” “It’s a self-esteem booster,” he says. ” I never imagined I could make something beautiful.” He says that he felt very cumbersome in the beginning “as though I was sewing with large gloves on my hands.” Eventually he became more adept with the needle. Upon his release, he hopes to continue quilting so he can “make gifts for all of my family and friends.”
[Postscript: I am part of a group of three women who hope in the next two years to start in Chicago a pilot quilting program at a transitional house for women who have just been released from prison. I continue to research other therapeutic craft programs around the world.]
November 3rd, 2006 at 11:20 pm
This is such an amazing project. Thanks for posting about it. The stories are touching and the quilts are just beautiful. You mention that the quilts are sold; I’d love to know where.
I live in Chicago and, though I know nothing about quilting, I’m crafty and would be willing to help in your endeavor with the women at the transitional house. You may either contact me at my email address or just keep posting about it and I will chime in again.
November 3rd, 2006 at 11:47 pm
“I reminded myself that no one grows up hoping to become a pedaphile or drug addict.” What are we supposed to empathise with criminals who commit crimes against children? I was unable to read past the first few sentences. For those of us who were abused by these criminals, please empathise with our inability to see these predators as anything but scum of the earth. And for those of us who have dealt with the horror of discovering that our children have been preyed upon by these vile people, please change this post as it is extremely offensive!
I might add that paedophiles have a 99% chance of reoffending. That means that when they are released they are preying again upon innocent children.
Margaret , on behalf of the one in four women in this country who have been abused by paedophiles!
November 3rd, 2006 at 11:52 pm
Thank you for sharing this. Years ago I worked with the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, and was invited to speak to men in a prison in Edinburgh who were making quilt panels in memory of loved ones lost to AIDS. It was a powerful and moving experience.
November 3rd, 2006 at 11:53 pm
This just… blows my mind. I think it’s important to be reminded that prisoners are people, too, not simply monsters who have committed heinous acts. It’s important to give people hope and a light in their dark times. Thank you for sharing this and for wanting to start a similar program in Chicago.
November 4th, 2006 at 2:15 am
Thank you for this wonderful article. I was feeling bad for myself over some minor life “trauma” and am reminded instead of the blessings I have of freedom and being able to live my life with my family in safety and peace.
Thank you for always having such wonderful things to read and learn here. You are always inspiring here
November 4th, 2006 at 2:29 am
I think you are very brave to be a part of a program like this. Not because they are prisoners but the emotions invovled with knowing their crimes and hearing their stories. Thank you for sharing your story.
November 4th, 2006 at 3:03 am
This is a quilter and fiber artist I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in Brooklyn, NY. The link is to her teaching page, which gives an outline of some of the work she has done with women in prison: http://www.jubileeartist.com/teaching.html
November 4th, 2006 at 3:07 am
Thanks for sharing that, Weeks.
November 4th, 2006 at 4:43 am
That is just amazing. Thanbk you for sharing something that really touched me.
November 4th, 2006 at 6:25 am
Thank you for sharing this, it was quite moving.
November 4th, 2006 at 7:30 am
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I wish you every good thing with your Chicago program. I hope you will post here and share how it is going. To create is to be empowered. I am so impressed that you are helping people to find this unique empowerment.
November 4th, 2006 at 8:38 am
Good luck with the quilting project! It sounds wonderful and very much needed.
November 4th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
This story is so interesting. It is very good that people who do terrible things can make something so beautiful. Plus the process is so theraputic. I was just thinking about how women sit and talk about all sorts of stuff while they stitch. I wonder if the men in prison do that.
Good luck with your project.
November 5th, 2006 at 12:44 am
That’s a beautiful story.
November 5th, 2006 at 2:45 am
very moving and very inspiring.
November 5th, 2006 at 3:40 am
Thanks so much for this post and for your much needed work.
November 5th, 2006 at 9:48 am
Wow, that just blows my mind. Such wonderful work and stories that need telling. Thanks so much for sharing that with us.
November 5th, 2006 at 6:07 pm
an interesting conflict, perhaps, between the fact that these men may once again inflict pain and anguish upon society in general and children in specific…..and the obvious tenderness with which they approach this project, reminding us they are indeed, human, with hurting hearts…. we need to remember they are damaged, also, so this is a nice way to help heal. but what do we say to Margaret, and the many others like her, who have been abused….and the children who will be abused today, tomorrow and beyond? quilting may not solve the problems of these prisoners but perhaps it gives them hope as well as distraction.
November 5th, 2006 at 9:13 pm
An amazing post. Thank you for the story!
November 5th, 2006 at 9:13 pm
I want to respond to Margaret’s comment that this post is offensive. The reality is that most of the people who are incarcerated now will be released back into society. Based on my research prison administrators have found programs like this one have a calming influence on the prisoners and in some cases have helped them to see that they can do something productive with their lives. I agree that not everyone can be rehabilitated and that deeply rooted pathologies are unlikely to be “cured” by quilting, but I think it is in society’s best interest to offer these people the chance to clean up their lives and rejoin society in a productive manner.
November 6th, 2006 at 11:22 am
Thanks so much for your moving post. I don’t know why anyone would find your compassion offensive. We WhipUp readers all know the calming and enlightening power of craft, and in these times of cutbacks in US prisons’ arts and education programs its good to know there are still such programs out there. The presence of positive expressive outlets for prisoners makes a difference in their pre- and post-release lives.
November 7th, 2006 at 3:47 pm
so amazing projet! congratulations!
November 7th, 2006 at 9:36 pm
I I have had the unfortunate experience of having a nephew, I loved dearly, incarcerated. And I wonder had he had the opportunity to continue to experiece possitive human interaction, acceptance, and a creative outlet - his life, once released, might would have had a more possitive outcome.
I commend you and your efforts.
Because with my experience, I see the need to continue to inforce and maintain “humanity” within an inhumane situation. Otherwise, we may be incubating even worse individuals - than we incarcerated.
Thank you.
November 9th, 2006 at 5:15 pm
Thankyou for sharing this story. It made me cry!! anything that brings more positive humanity to humans is good and worthy.
November 10th, 2006 at 12:50 am
In response to Margaret’s post — let me respond on behalf of the 2nd in four women in this country who have been abused by pedophiles:
Part of the process in healing my abuse was realizing that the abuse inflicted upon me was not done because of me but instead in spite of me, and to feed whatever disease/dysfunction pedphiles have. I still hold much anger for the abusers in my life, and those who enabled or stuck up for them, but overall in order to heal I need to be able to pray/meditate that they get well and wish the best for them - because it is the best for everyone.
No, programs like this do not guarantee that pedophiles or addicts have a 0 recidivism rate. But neither does hating them and doing absolutely nothing - in fact, I think that is more harmful than trying to help them.
I would like to see more programs like this propping up a better social climate for 0-recidivism-target programs and more prisoner programs/prisoner rights overall - because that is best for society as a whole, its children included.
I don’t disagree with Margaret’s rage and I know it is justified and necessary in the healing process. But I just wanted to share that after 15 years of working on abuse that happened from when I was 5 on, if not as an infant as well, when I finally admitted what happened to me when I was 16…I can now not have that hate for my abusers in my life on top of being an abuse survivor.
So, I am happy to see this program and I would support any similar programs that are implemented.
Jesse
November 30th, 2006 at 6:51 am
Fantastic. You might also be intersted in the Books to Women In Prison Project that started here in Chicago a few years ago. http://www.chicagobwp.org
When you get your Chicago project up and running, either email me or send an email inbox@gapersblock.com. I think it would be great to mention on Gapers Block.
Good luck with your efforts.
And as a woman who was also abused by a pedophile, I eventually realized that the hatred I felt for my attacker was damaging me but not hurting him. Trying to understand him, while chillling and awful, has helped me begin to heal myself. We focus so much on punishment and not at all on rehabilitation in this country. Efforts like this can’t hurt, and most likely will help.