Unlocking the Voices of Incarcerated Women
Does poetry have the power to change lives? These poet warriors say it does.
"Of course I got on the count sheet. I've been doing this for twenty years. That's at least sixteen more than you.
Which of us do you think screwed that up?
Institutional recount.
I am a number counted fourteen times today.
Back to work, finish the day, then came home for a family moment with my crew.
Only a moment, then 'Count time.'
I'm a small box on that piece of paper in the sheet protector on your clipboard,
Erroneously crossed out with a China marker.
I'm no more than that, not to them, not to you.
But no, I'm not dead.
Yet."
-Jax, an inmate serving a life sentence at the Mabel Basset Correctional Center for women in McLoud, Oklahoma.
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Poetic Justice’s mission is to offer restorative writing and creative arts programs to individuals who are incarcerated in women’s prisons and jails, with a vision to offer opportunities for healing and growth by holding space to process trauma and rewrite personal narratives to transform the story of incarceration.
Poetic Justice is an organization that began in Oklahoma in March of 2014 with a writing class for female inmates who were incarcerated at the women’s pod at the Tulsa County Jail, and have since expanded to offering programs at three other Oklahoma correctional facilities. In 2018, Poetic Justice opened an office in California, offering programs to the Las Colinas Detention Facility in San Diego and La Esperanza in Tijuana, Mexico. In 2020, they expanded again to serve female inmates in South Carolina and Arkansas, and in 2021, added an additional facility each in California and Mexico.
You can read more about Poetic Justice here, and watch the full TEDxTulsa CC session with Poetic Justice Co-Founder and Executive Director Ellen Stackable here.
“Everybody is talented because everybody who is human has something to express.” - Brenda Ueland
