About

This Blog is dedicated to getting the voices of prisoners on the inside to those of us on the outside. As shown here in their writings, they are intelligent, passionate men and women who have voices and something to say. In the interest of safety, we have chosen for the time being to attach only their initials to their work so as not attract attention from the authorities or other potentially threatening entities.


Our Mission Statement:

The Inside Out Writing Project began as a way to engage personally
and critically with women at the Santa Cruz County jail facilities through
writing workshops. The group has since extended to the male units, while
continuing workshops in the Blaine Street facility and the female units at
the Main jail. As the group progresses, we aim to use the workshops as
a way to maintain the relationships between the jail, the university, and
the Santa Cruz community. During the workshops, the interns have used
creative writing and art to interact with participants and encourage a safer
space for expression. Because IOWP is operated out of UC Santa Cruz,
we constantly try to reconcile the university with the often-forgotten jail.
We also recognize that the jail and the people that it houses are often
disconnected from the greater Santa Cruz community. We wish to bridge
the geographical and symbolic rifts that exist between the spaces of the
university, the city, and the jail.

As an organization, IOWP attempts to be a vessel for bringing the
community back into the jail as a way of establishing solidarity. Although
the group experiences many changes because of its rotation of interns,
we are sustained by our desire to critically analyze the prison system as
an expansive institution that incarcerates an ever-increasing number of
bodies.