Writings from New York prisoners that exposes the devastations of the criminal punishment model

Please join us Monday, March 8 at 6pm for a vital discussion of America’s Incarceration crisis, featuring activist Clifton Williamson and author Daniel Mendelson. 

The discussion will celebrate a newly published book of prison writings. Scrolls From A Forgotten World is a collection of 30 essays, poems, memoirs, letters, and other writings from New York prisoners that exposes the devastations of the criminal punishment model our society has chosen. 

Mendelsohn says this collection is “a dazzling testament both to the drive and talent of these incarcerated authors, and to the truth that undergirds the liberal imagination: that education is the key that sets us free.” 

Mendelsohn is editor at large at the New York Review of Books, and an internationally-bestselling author of eight books. 

Williamson, who received clemency from the New York Governor last December, has emerged from spending 26 years in the culture of incarceration to become an advocate for reform and abolition as a leader of the organization Transforming Lives (which WESPAC sponsors).

 “As you read Scrolls know that some of the wondrous life trapped in the broken criminal justice system will be fortunate enough to physically escape with their gifts,” Williamson writes. “Others must rely on their gifts to help them mentally escape. I know because I was there.”

Williamson was able to get an advanced degree in prison. Mendelsohn has taught literature at Eastern Correctional Facility in the Catskills. But only 5 percent of American inmates are able to attend college classes.  

Please come to this important discussion, hosted by Cynthia Kling, founder of Transforming Lives, a prison writing program. Registration required here