4PM Count

Jim Reese is one of five artists-in-residence throughout the country who are part of the Arts Endowment’s interagency initiative with Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Prisons. Here he established Yankton Federal Prison Camp’s first creative writing workshop and publishing course, editing a yearly (perfect bound) journal, 4 P.M. Count, which features creative writing and visual artwork by inmates.

4 P.M. Count isn’t for sale but is provided free to individuals for educational purposes. Interested parties can use the Contact Form to obtain a copy.

2010 Introduction by Dr. Jim Reese:

Judith Tannenbaum and Spoon Jackson have recently co-written a double memoir titled, By Heart, Poetry, Prison and Two Lives. Tannenbaum is a long-time arts-in-corrections teacher, Jackson a writer and inmate at Folsom prison serving a life sentence. In the book Tannenbaum writes, “One of my favorite Spoon lines goes, ‘As human beings, we all have one foot in light and one foot in darkness.’” She continues, “I’ve never read a better description of this human truth. One can argue about nature and nurture, karma and fate, economic inequity and social injustice. But whatever the reasons and roots, I was sure there were men at San Quentin who might have found ‘the cure for cancer’ if life had early on helped them nourish that one foot in the light.”

This is one of many passages that I have dog-eared in the book—a collection that helps break down the walls of a world which the majority of people in the U.S. shun. As a professor at Yankton Federal Prison Camp, I’ve learned to open my eyes to this world. As a teacher, you have to. For the past three years I have read as much as I could on arts in corrections and have made trips to San Quentin to see how arts programs work in maximum security prisons. I have asked a lot of questions.

Teaching at the Yankton prison has made me a better professor. The first year, I worked on my syllabus for months. And I’m running all of the time, raising two girls, trying to write on my own, so my classes have to be very structured. I plan everything; otherwise I’d lose my mind. I know I drive my wife crazy sometimes, but I always need things in order.

I went into the prison very prepared and one of the students asked me the first day: “What’s the difference between poetry and prose?” I realized then no matter how much I planned, this was going to be a new teaching environment for me. I realized I’d have to start at the beginning. It continues to challenge me to work in a different way, which in turn, I believe, has made my teaching richer for the show.

I’d be lying to you if I told you I wasn’t intimidated at first, but that’s par for the course. What’s so great is that the students are always there. You don’t get any e-mails about having to miss class; they want to be there. Most do their homework, too. And they have their eyes set on a final goal—to become a published writer.

And you know, teaching at the prison, workshopping and training at San Quentin, this is all much bigger than one person, one course. Those of us that teach within the prison system believe in the greater goal. Education is key to turning our justice system around. The United States is the worldwide leader in incarceration. We have to re-evaluate what we want to do here.

When I was reading the San Quentin newspaper someone in arts and corrections had written something to the effect that you can lock people up and let them out after so long. Maybe during that time, you teach them to become a plumber—that’s great, they have learned a trade. What you also have to do is help them tap into the emotional instabilities that brought them to prison in the first place. Writing, arts and education in corrections help open that door.

If a person never comes to terms with himself, you are just going to send an angry plumber right back out into society.

Yesterday at the prison, one of the assignments was to write a letter to a younger man. The young man can be anyone—your younger self, a son or perhaps a victim. It immediately triggered a voice that had been holed up for years. The guys started exploding on the page—they started writing, really writing and realized, “This is it; I may be stripped of everything here for now, but no one, by God, can take my voice away from me.”

We publish 4 PM Count once year here at Yankton Federal Prison Camp. I tell them, “Forget all those grammar rules. What is brewing inside you? We’ll learn some of the rules soon enough. But let that voice out—let it ride. Forget about all the rest.” This is a hardcore writing process. These guys all want to be published, but they have to earn it. They have to come up with something that really matters, something from the heart.

I bring in guest writers from throughout the country—2008 American Book Award Winner Maria Mazziotti Gillan had them in tears. The students write letters to the authors after they visit, and then the authors respond with letters back to the whole class, which you can read here. Spearfish, SD writer and—if you ask me—one of the nation’s best fiction writers, Kent Meyers, joined our class this year at YFPC and he responded with a fourteen-page letter back to the students. Writers don’t normally take that much time out of their lives to do something like that. He understands the power of voice, understands how powerful words can be, how his voice can help.

I think Rudyard Kipling said, “Words are the most powerful drug used by mankind.” He was right on there. After about seven months I ask the students to reflect on the class. How has it helped? Has it helped? Any suggestions to improve the class? There is one student, Fred Smith, who stated early on, “Dr. Reese, you weren’t born a criminal— you don’t understand.” Someone else in class quickly responded, “Neither were you!” The dialogue began early. We began discussing social justice issues about as soon as we started debating the difference between rhyme and rhythm. Tension was present. I had to prove myself every week to these guys.

If student reflections are an indication of a teacher’s ability, than I believe I have done my job. In his class reflection Fred wrote, “When I signed up for this creative writing class I had very high hopes from the very beginning. But over the past seven months, this class has exceeded my expectation. I have learned so many wonderful things about creative writing from Dr. Reese and the eight writers that I have had the privilege to meet. I now better understand the actual mechanics of writing and the sculpting involved in developing a good piece of literature. This has emboldened me to write like never before. I now write every day and although it is work, it is work that I now find very enjoyable. To whoever has a hand in making this class possible I sincerely thank you from the innermost part of my soul and may you continue to make it happen for others. Creation Smiles on You! Thanks.”

The Yankton Federal Prison Camp currently houses more than 878 inmates with a capacity of 900. A variety of programs are in place to help inmates integrate into society once they have been released. You can read about some of these programs in this journal.

According to State of the Bureau 2008, the Bureau’s Core Values on any given day in FY08, 35 percent of the designated inmate population (i.e., inmates who have been sentenced to serve a term of incarceration) was enrolled in one or more education programs. During FY08, 5,878 inmates obtained a GED certificate, and at the close of FY08, 20,729 inmates were enrolled in literacy (GED) classes. At the end of FY08, 77 percent of inmates within six to seven months of release did not have a literacy need (i.e., they either had a high school degree or had earned a GED), and 23 percent were either enrolled in or on the waiting list to participate in the GED class.

Studies by the Bureau of Prisons have shown nationally a 16 percent reduction in recidivism for inmates who participate in education programs and a 33 percent reduction in recidivism for those who acquire vocational training while incarcerated. I believe the National Endowment for the Arts Writer-in-Residence opportunity fulfills both areas. I do hope that such programs continue throughout the country. I am honored to be part of all of this. Enjoy the book.

Sincerely,
Dr. Jim Reese
National Endowment for the Arts Writer-in-Residence
Yankton Federal Prison Camp 2010