"Write about the color green." It was a simple instruction uttered by Kyes Stevens that unleashed her students' creativity.  Some of them wrote about memories they had involving the color green while others described images the color evoked in the their minds.  The students' mission was to bring their thoughts alive for their readers, a skill they have been developing in the creative writing class they attend each week.

"Green can be five million different things," said Stevens, who, in addition to teaching the class, serves as Director of Communications for the College of Architecture, Design and Construction at Auburn University in Alabama.  "For every different person, there's a different understanding of green."

Although Stevens works at Auburn, her creative writing students are not typical college kids and her classes do not convene on a picturesque campus.  Her students hails from the Alabama DOC; they are inmates who take the 14-week writing course at either the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka or the Frank Lee Youth Center in Deatsville.

The program started five years ago through Aid to Inmate Mothers, an Alabama non-profit that helps incarcerated mothers stay connected to their kids.  It was designed to provide women an outlet for their innermost thoughts and has since expanded to offer that same release to men.

"[Creative writing] gives students a way to express themselves, to think about things and to be honest about [things]," said Stevens, who is one of two program instructors.  On paper, she added, inmates may be able to describe emotions in a way they are unable to verbally.

Sharing Thoughts Through Poetry

Mostly, the students are encouraged to communicate these emotions through poetry.  They are taught to express their thoughts first and worry about the written form those thoughts take later.

"My philosophy on teaching creative writing is to spend the first half of the class teaching students how to bust out of the thinking box," Stevens said.  "After they've got a good grasp on that, we'll go in and try [different forms, like] a sonnet."

To supplement the weekly, two-hour course, students are provided with college poetry text books, which they can take back to the dorms they live in and use for their homework assignments or just to read through.  Stevens also hands out a syllabus to inmates, which, she said, is flexible.

According to Stevens, the course covers a wide variety of topics and almost any subject can be used to spark inmates' imaginations and get them writing.

"The sky is the limit," Stevens said.  "Sometimes, I will go in with a plan for class that will talk about the idea of [a certain] place and, sometimes, I walk in and I will have seen something driving to the facility and want to talk about that," she added.  "I ask them a lot of questions about what they think."

Some topics Stevens presents to inmates in class include the Great Depression and Black History month.  Recently, the classes have also discussed how photography can enhance an individual's understanding of a concept or issue.

"They were all stoked up about that," Stevens said.

Giving Inmates an Education

Talking about history and asking students to write creatively about it helps to educate inmates, which is important in a correctional setting.

"Any time you can offer an educational program to inmates, that's a value," said Brian Corbett, Spokesman for the Alabama DOC.  "[It's] a chance for them to better themselves and that is a good thing."

According to Corbett, teaching creative writing to inmates is similar to providing them with vocational training in other fields, like auto mechanics or cosmetology. 

"It's a specified area, if you will, just as some other trades are," Corbett said.  "Creative writing is something they can definitely put to use upon exit from prison."

Stevens agrees and hopes that some of her students will continue to write once they are released from incarceration.

 "Some of [my students] can write rather lengthy pieces.  Some do want to pursue [writing]," Stevens said.  "There are some incredibly talented writers in these facilites."

But, even if poetry does not become a lifelong passion for these offenders, writing is still an important skill for them to have.

"Learning how to express yourself is an essential form of communication," Stevens said.

Providing a Release

While learning how to write can help to better prepare inmates for release, it can also have therapeutic benefits for offenders.  It is not only words that flow in Stevens' class; emotions that inmates keep bottled up inside are released there, too.

"If you've got a rage or a hurt inside of you that is so profound that it has led to you make poor decisions in your life [and] you are able to somehow figure out a way to deal with that in a creative mode and use that positive energy--that's helpful," Stevens said.   

Although, like in any classroom, not all of Stevens' inmate-students push themselves to the limit and utilize writing to communicate their thoughts and feelings, some do.

"The harder you work at something, the more you are going to get out of it," said Stevens who asks students to revise their work after she has reviewed it and provides them with constructive criticism.  "All of the students have success stories; it varies depending on what their experience is."

While students' writing differs, because some have had more practice or have more talent, Stevens' overall goal in administering the creative writing course is to teach inmates more than just how to write.  She also strives to change the way they think.

"Any student needs to be challenged to learn how to see the world differently than they do," Stevens said.  "It doesn't matter if they're in a correctional facility, a state college or if they're at Harvard."

Resources:

To contact the Alabama DOC, call (334) 353-4053

To contact Kyes Stevens, call (334) 844-4523