Captive Voices Writing Program at New Jersey State Prison is a rehabilitative and therapeutic outlet for its participants.
In March of 2022, freelance writer Tariq MaQbool, who is currently housed at the New Jersey State Prison (NJSP), wrote a proposal to the facility’s administrator requesting permission to create the Captive Voices Writing Program (CVWP).
As a result of MaQbool’s extensive writing credentials and relationship with the Prison Journalism Project (PJP), he was granted permission to facilitate the program with the Chaplaincy Department as a liaison.
By allowing MaQbool to create this program, the administration at NJSP has taken the initiative to invest in the minds of its captive authors, producing a long lasting residual effect upon society. Consequently, these peer-driven participants feel embedded within society, rather than isolated and alienated.
Since the introductory class on September 13, 2022, the program was held once a week for approximately two hours. During these classes, the program’s cohorts have partnered with Penn State University’s “Media & Mass Incarceration Class” for the spring 2023 semester. In true partnership, the students worked closely together to learn how to properly develop, pitch, fact- check, and co-write a complex story for a publication.
Also, the Penn State students used the Captive Voices cohort’s insights in preparing and submitting their final exams. The Captive Voices members were acknowledged by the Penn State staff and awarded certificates by the college for their participation.
Throughout the course of the program, participants also completed a 10-module training series provided by PJP. Initially the training course was slotted for 16 weeks, but due to unforeseen delays and scheduling issues, it was completed in 21 weeks. The module trained incarcerated writers in the tools of journalism, such as writing personal and reported essays, developing flow charts, the art of note taking, observation, interviewing, and how to adhere to the Society of Journalists’ Code of Ethics.
The program has been heralded as a huge success by the NJSP Chaplaincy Supervisor. Captive Voices Writing Program members have been published in The Star-Ledger, NJ.com, The Marshall Project, USA Today, and other online publications. These accomplishments were the result of vigorous training under the tutelage of the programs facilitator, MaQbool.
Empowerment Avenue is a mentorship organization that pairs writers on the inside with accomplished writers in society. In the upcoming weeks, they along with volunteers from PJP will attend the CVWP to provide participants with feedback and guidance about the inner workings of the industry and other aspects of writing.
Journalism creates meaning for oneself and the larger community. The core values of journalism are truth seeking, accountability and transparency. These are the same principles expected from the officials who oversee our criminal justice system. To instill these values in the minds and hearts of these incarcerated individuals is a form of restorative justice. This peer-based educational program may result in the development of healthier cognitive skills and internalization of law-abiding values.
An additional benefit of the program is that its members have developed a skill that allows them to contribute to society in a positive way. Writing articles that expose the living conditions prisoners are subjected to holds a mirror up to society to reflect the images of its captive souls. Furthermore, this exposure has the potential to bring about the necessary improvements to create a safe and secure environment for prisoners.
As writers, these individuals feel a sense of responsibility to their community when they represent the standpoint of others who have been affected by the criminal justice system. To all intents and purposes, the CVWP has helped the contributors develop a new sense of identity and self worth. As a collective, these writers have experienced enhanced self-esteem and self confidence following their legitimate contribution to the world, often for the first time in their lives.
Writing is extremely therapeutic for writers within the justice system. When writers who are incarcerated are forced to examine their thoughts and emotions then articulate them in written form, those expressions are healing and a part of their rehabilitation process. It also gives them the power to create an authentic narrative.
The writing process helps with personal growth because it requires self-reflection, generating a more productive rendition of oneself. Moreover, teaching people who are confined to use writing as an effective communication tool aids them in their daily state of affairs. For instance, it is imperative to have effective writing skills to receive the desired results in the following tasks: using the institution’s remedy system to write grievances, preparing efficient legal work, and communicating with family and friends.
Individuals who are incarcerated are normally voiceless and have no platform to express their remorse, growth, or gripes with the living conditions inside the prison. This level of silence produces resentment and frustration, which is counterproductive to the Department of Corrections’ goal of rehabilitation.
CVWP has cultivated an educational experience and creative outlet for prisoners. This has been proven to be an effective way of improving the recidivism rate. Rand Corporation conducted a research study called “Evaluating the Effectiveness of Correctional Education” and found that, on average, incarcerated people who participated in correctional education programs had 43% lower odds of recidivating than those who did not.
Christian Parenti eloquently expressed the importance of prison programs: “Education is always important, but it is even more so for the more titan two million Americans who live behind bars. When one’s body is locked up, the freedom and development of one’s mind becomes a powerful form of resistance and self-preservation.”
All previous peer-created programs at NJSP were infiltrated by the administration in an effort to censor, monitor, and/or regulate the groups’ expansion and creativity. In all actuality, these offenders were merely contributing to their own rehabilitation.
Music Theory, one of the latest programs to be canceled at NJSP, was funded and created by the inmate population, not the staff. Incarcerated people had to have their families donate musical equipment and instruments to the prison in order for the program to exist.
Sharon Comer, whose son James was incarcerated at NJSP and influential in the inception of the Music Theory program, donated nearly $3,000 worth of equipment to get the program up and running. When the program was abruptly disbanded, the equipment that was purchased by prisoners’ family members remained property of NJSP. The reason for the disbandment of the program was never actually explained to the participants.
Programs like Prison Reform Committee (PRC), The Prison newsletter, and the LIFE program also suffered the same fate. If all things move in a cycle, then history entails what’s to come in the future, the lifeline of Captive Voices Writing Program will eventually be suffocated by the administration.
“People with power are fond of cradling excellent ideas as if the ideas were their own. The group has already run into roadblocks, and each roadblock was fuel for good reporting,” said Ray Hamzah Franklin, a member of the program who published the flash fiction series, The Huntress.
MaQbool’s Captive Voices Writing Program was also conducted without any financial support from the prison. Because of MaQbool’s qualifications as a certified tutor through Learning Volunteers of America, the prison did not have to hire staff to teach the program.
The program started with only 10 participants (including MaQbool). The participants’ roster will gradually increase as the initial cohorts have completed the basic training so they will be prepared to assist MaQbool with training the incoming group. This cost-effective approach ensures that the prison won’t be obligated to provide any financial support or hire staff to teach the program.
“We need to be able to have an independent and objective outlet, not subject to prison politics and the censorship of the DOC, so that we can create an open and honest dialogue that can about realistic change,” says Thomas Koskovich, a member of the program who had his writing published in The Marshall Project.
The evidence involving studies that compared peer-led educational programs in prison to professionally led programs is scarce. Instinctively, I took the initiative to question 20 people on my housing unit about who would they prefer to facilitate the educational programs at the prison.
Fourteen of the 20 inmates questioned indicated that peer facilitators were preferred to professionals because peers demonstrate empathy due to shared experiences, are nonjudgmental, and seem to be more accessible in an environment where staff was disciplined for fraternizing with inmates. Also, the men that I interviewed see professional staff as authority figures that are extensions of the Corrections Department, creating an uncomfortable and suspicious feeling during interactions.
Captive Voices Writing Program is a clear example of peer-driven education being a good source for offender rehabilitation. Incarcerated people are proven to be capable of having an impactful and positive influence on similarly situated individuals. However, offenders themselves represent the largest group of untapped resources in the quest to find effective rehabilitation programming.
The only “change” a person anticipates is the kind that is left over after making a purchase. Captive Voices is an investment—an invaluable purchase made by its members. It’s a rather expensive purchase, but society will reap the benefits of this change.
