REHABILITATION AND REFORM – Current programs and perspectives
Linked below are videos that provide a sense of current Sing Sing programs for rehabilitation and reform.
See also: Greenburger Center for Social and Criminal Justice’s “8 Ways to Fix the System” Links to videos and summary statements of why each suggestion matters and actions that can be taken to promote reform; notes especially actions to increase educational opportunities and re-entry supports.
Carnegie Hall Musical Connections at Sing Sing – Men create, learn and perform with professional artists, then hold concerts within the facility.
CHOICES (Choosing Healthier Options in Confronting Every Situation) – A new program (and potentially annual event) that allows the inmates to do what they can while incarcerated to make sure young people (especially their children/nieces/nephews/siblings) do not follow in their footsteps.
Dramatic Escape (trailer) – Dramatic Escape is a documentary that takes the audience inside Sing Sing Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison, and follows a group of inmates over the course of a year as they attempt to mount a production of A Few Good Men under the guidance of Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA).
Hudson Link – Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison provides college education, life skills and re-entry support to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated men and women. In the past 19 years, Hudson Link has awarded over 534 degrees through eight colleges and six correctional facilities. Hudson Link’s markedly low recidivism rate of less than 4% demonstrates the transformative power of education.
TEDx talks at Sing Sing – Hudson Link students and alumni led a full day event (December 2014) devoted to talks and performances on the theme of “Building Health Communities”; also described as an opportunity for inmates to share how it really is, how they ended up there, what can be done to stop others from going there as well as a celebration of their successes and rehabilitation.
Voices From Within – A multimedia education initiative that addresses the epidemic of gun violence directly through the voices of inmates living with the consequences of their choices, and the victims left in their wake. The project was born inside the walls of Sing Sing Correctional Facility, where a group of inmates decided to share their stories or help others share their stories to implore young adults to think about the consequences of their choices. Inmates openly discuss how and why using a gun landed them in prison, and what life has been like for them since.