Impact
A place to share successes, writing, artwork, and stories
What does a class, a teacher, a book, a community of students mean to someone inside?
Below, in a prose poem to his teacher, Shaun Griffin, Ismael Santillanes, poet and member of the Northern Nevada Correctional Center Razor Wire Poetry Workshop for 24 years, answers that question.
In 2022, Ismael graduated from Antioch University with a Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing.
i never asked how one
distills life into a line thin as a man pared off an unwritten page and palm what little love might weigh
just to slowly enkindle the dried twigs of hearts’ veins in prisoners who could easily catch too fast and
blow away i never asked how prayers burned on my tongue to keep me warm as i quietly waited all
those years i never asked if time would press me down like a word inside a book or drown in the stomach
or rage from throat i never asked how one could save himself from dying but listened to what you taught
and softly sang.
Ismael Santillanes, 2023
Our Allies
Return Strong
Return Strong is powerful grassroots, Nevada organization with over 2300 members, most of whom are incarcerated persons and their loved ones.
It is committed to “…deconstructing the prison industrial complex by unapologetically fighting to center womxn, folx of color, and people experiencing poverty in all phases of the criminal legal and correctional systems.”
Watch Return Strong’s heartfelt video here.
Fines and Fees Justice Center, Nevada
FFJC works to eliminate the fines and fees that distort justice. 2023 was a banner year for criminal justice reform in Nevada, and Fines and Fees was huge part of that.
Our Working Relationships
The Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC)
James Dzurenda, Director
Kim Petersen Education Division Coordinator, kspetersen@doc.nv.gov
“When combined with other rehabilitative programs, education is a powerful factor in reducing recidivism. Rigorous study gives offenders the intellectual leverage they need to revise their view of themselves and leave prison better equipped to contribute positively to their families and communities. Education has been the longest running and most successful rehabilitative program in our prison history.”
Learn more from the Nevada System of Higher Education.