Bodies Beyond the Cell

BeyondPrison is a website that presents a human rights discussion on the prison system in America. They highlight seven programs who function to assist with rehabilitation of those are incarcerated and at risk youths. The targeted audiences of these programs are generally specific to a particular gender/age group. This range of audience includes incarcerated men, incarcerated women, youth in detention centers and alternative high schools. This webpage incorporates text with interactive scrolling, videos, images, and audio. This allows for an engaging interaction with whoever decides to explore BeyondPrison. This platforms seems to want to bring attention to these rehabilitation programs while highlighting the need for more empathy when dealing with the individuals who fall victim to circumstance that lead them to the potential entrapment of the prison system.

Susan Delagrange discuses Embodiment in chapter three of Technologies of Wonder: Digital Practice in a Rhetorical World. She provides an overview of how bodies have been perceived and performed that is meant to (or has) influenced the way in which the wider audience performs within their own bodies. Delagrange focuses on how images and visuals embed meaning that influences how the physical body is understood and embraced by the individual and outside viewer. Within this chapter, she touches on the misrepresentation of the female body in comparison to that of the male form. For example, during the 16^th and 17^th centuries women were either excluded or depicted with a consciousness of their indecency when illustrating the anatomy of the body. Delagrange states that, “because women’s bodies were believed to be inferior versions of male bodies, it follows that the male body would be overwhelmingly represented in anatomy texts” (Delagrange, 74). Images at this point reflected beyond their initial purpose to teach, and extended into a representation of the cultural standards of the body and the expectation that women would embody these behaviors. Images shape perception of, and it is even more important to note that, “our sense of embodiment is inextricably entangled with current socio-cultural constructions of the body” (Delagrange, 105). Embodiment refers to the physical representation or expression of an idea, and these ideas can come in the shape of expectations and circulated texts that shape the way in which individuals perceive themselves and choose to change or reflect how they allow others to see them.

This understanding of embodiment, and the impact that circulated texts have on the individual’s physical performance of their identity can further be extended to that of the Beyond Prison testimonies and rehabilitation organizations. Chapter 5, “The Art of Trust”, discusses how in Women’s Prison the inmates are generally treated equal to that of their male counterparts. This is not appropriate due to their differing physical and emotional needs that need to be met in order to ensure that rehabilitation is successful. There are of course statistics shared on the interactive website that explain deeper the differences between how rehabilitation needs to be approached more on a gender basis rather than a blanketing of all those who are incarcerated. It is fascinating to see that the ArtSpring’s program allows women to regain autonomy of their bodies and self-expression. “As an arts program, it offers the power of creativity: an ineffable opportunity to explore foundational and intimate aspects of oneself and share those depths with others”… This is vital to the maturing of these women in order for them to regain confidence and understanding of one’s self in a safe space despite the harsh conditions of the prison system. It seems that the goal at this point is to make it clear to these women that vulnerability is not meant to cause pain, and that they do not have to fit into the stereotypes that society categorizes these women as following their criminal behavior and past within the prison system. They are able to create with the help of these rehabilitation programs, allowing for a reclaiming of their own embodiment and understanding that they are in charge of how they shape their own lives and how others perceive them. They are not men, and their experience within prison does not define their character or behaviors as an individual unless they allow it to do so. The ArtSrpings program fights against this allowing for expression through the arts, such as dance and painting.

Incarceration is a trauma in its own right. When incarcerated the traumas of the past intermingle with that of the present and have the possibility to haunt the person even after their release. This haunting may add to the recidivism rate in the United States. Leigh Gilmore states, “trauma, from the Greek for “wound”, names a shattering of the self in the face of a crisis or accident in which an unanticipated event assaults the subject and ruptures the membrane of defenses that typically shields it” (Gilmore, 111). There is a break in the one who experiences trauma, and it is important to rehabilitate the individual in order for them to successfully function following these events. Traumas defy language and impact beyond the boundaries of the individual involved. It is able to travel through time, location, gender, race, and belief. The trauma narrative lingers, but its impact is strongly determined by the delivery of these trauma narratives. 

“When you have things that are obstructing your ability to grow, it might be a good idea to consider purging that from your figurative garden.” –Charles from the BeyondPrison

Beyond Prison is used as a platform to allow for a rebranding of such traumas. Incarcerated individuals are given the opportunity to redefine themselves as they express their traumas in a supportive space where their emotions are redirected in activities such as gardening and exploration of the arts.  In many cases it is a trauma that has lead to the behaviors that resulted in the individual’s incarceration in the first place. In order for one to grow and transform their narratives there must be a space for this language and discourse to occur. The Mind Body Awareness Project works to bring awareness to incarcerated and at risk youths of the possibility for transformation, and they assist with guiding these youths on how to address what they struggle with in order to change their behaviors and stay out of the prison system. These struggles tend to include behavioral issues and traumas that were never probably corrected or processed by the individual. Awareness of one’s body is key in understanding how to behave and determine the right steps to express their needs and process trauma. There needs to be a broader acceptance in regards to the validity of trauma narratives that stem from that of troubled youth and those who have relation with incarceration. There experiences deserve respect, especially since they inevitably impact the larger system that all people participate. Things must be addressed at the individual level for the narrative to grow and be reshaped, allowing for circulation and awareness in order to assist others.

The trauma narratives presented throughout the Beyond Prison platform slightly echoes the idea of a “Mestiza way”, a term derived from the writings of Anzaldua in Borderlands. The Mestiza is an individual who must cope with their own struggles of identity as they accept the fluidity of ambiguity when faced with that of the dominant culture who attempts to dictate and define the way in which the mestizo (the minority) must be presented.  Those within the prison system are placed in their own borderland as they struggle to redefine their internalization of identity in order to fit within that of the prison system and then later own properly rehabilitate into a society where they may struggle to rejoin their cultural place. It is interesting to contemplate Anzaldua’s use of testimony within her piece that gave a voice to the Mestiza. However, despite the positive of circulating these narratives, it also important to note that trauma narratives do not need to be circulated in order to assist in the growth of the victim beyond the past. Beyond Prison highlights rehabilitation as a foundational tool not just with female inmates, but also with men who have been incarcerated. With the arts these individuals are given the opportunity to express their trauma and heal beyond that of word-to-word discourse. These narratives can be expressed through dance or emotion behind brushstrokes. The purpose of such narratives, as presented by Beyond Prison, do not serve to ease the broader public but to allow for the incarcerated to remove their masks of false embodiment in order to better themselves to the point of growth. A side note is that the arts as rehabilitation can be used as a tool beyond that of the prison system. Everyone is human, and it is easy to dehumanize those that society has taught to be viewed as less than, or be othered. Everyone has emotions and perform their identity, and many struggle to display authenticity due to trauma that must be addressed in order to avoid negative behaviors and consequences. These undesired outcomes fueled and stemmed from trauma may shape the individual, but they do not define a person's ability to transform.

http://www.beyondprison.us/