Prison Arts Touching Hearts (PATH), was birthed from a labor of love, and designed to acknowledge and give a much-needed voice and validation to incarcerated artists, not only in California but all around the United States.
PATH acts as a vehicle for these same incarcerated artists to give back to their community through their art via themed fundraising art exhibits. Last spring, PATH had the rare privilege to install a major installation of
As founder and director of a Marin County based nonprofit that specifically deals with inmate artists, I’m often asked, “Why should people care about providing and spending time and money on inmates/people in prison when they have committed crimes?”
My response is simple and direct. The reason why most people don’t care is because those who are incarcerated are generally faceless. They are hidden and forgotten by the general public, a population without identity. They’re identified only by the crime(s) they’ve committed, been charged with and sent to prison to serve sentences (for many “life” sentences regardless of guilt or innocence).
Several years ago, I came across a Twitter feed that featured a thought-provoking essay by an inmate who was part of the Last Mile Program at San Quentin State Prison. The title of the essay was, “Why Should Anyone Care About People Who Have Committed Serious Crimes?” The author writes, “Why indeed? How about, because we are compassionate. How about, because we are part of the human race? How about, because we are human? Or, because we believe in the higher ideals our religious beliefs command us to practice.”
Speaking from personal experience, incarcerated individuals need (and deserve) to be acknowledged for
Talk to anyone who has a friend or relative in prison and you will get a completely different perspective. I have become friends with several parents of incarcerated artists. These parents are from what is generally considered professional and respectable families. And, though they have not committed any illegal offenses, the family members of the incarcerated are equally (albeit indirectly) stigmatized and treated with disrespect and scorn. It’s shameful.
As Jody Lewen, founder and director of the Prison University Project once wrote, “Today more than ever, we must support the civic participation of incarcerated people, as well as of other communities subject toextreme, systematic vulnerability and exclusion. But the reasons extend far beyond the need of every citizen to influence their own government and shape the society in which they live. The reality is that our
Leslie Lakes is a professional artist, former singer/songwriter/performer of children’s music with a diversified business background, and is vitally active in community volunteerism. Leslie is also Founder/Director of a Marin County based non-profit called Prison Arts Touching Hearts.
