“Our creative minds burst like piñatas when tapped into, for without creativity there would be no color in our bleak environment,” writes one Odyssey Beyond Bars student. “I write to find myself,” adds another, “and to speak for the ones who are mute and without a voice.”
Amplifying student voices in transformational ways is at the heart of Odyssey’s mission. One student incarcerated at Racine Correctional begins his poem, “I am reborn from my past mistakes / to become something, to be someone.” For the first time ever, we share a sampler of the tragic and triumphant stories from inside our prison program.