I’ve talked about this program on my blog before. The Pros and Cons Arts Program runs out of prisons in Ontario, Canada. So far, they have released four full albums, completely written and recorded inside of prison. The songs on each album are written and performed by Canadian inmates.
Hugh Christopher Brown started this project to help rehabilitate inmates through art while also providing them with job skills. Not only does this organization teach people how to sing and play an instrument, but it also teaches them how to create and record a track from start to finish.
All of their albums can be found here.
This is another amazing organization that I’ve written about on my blog. Motherhood Beyond Bars is based in Atlanta, Georgia. This organization intervenes before a mother is incarcerated to either keep the mother out of the prison system and helps mothers who are incarcerated stay connected to their infants. They also do a lot of work to help keep infants out of the child welfare system so that mothers can reconnect after their release.
I interviewed Amy Ard, the executive director of Motherhood Beyond Bars. I could tell she was so passionate about the work she is doing and had a lot of valuable insight to share. If you’d like, you can read that post here!
Rehabilitation Through Arts (RTA) is an organization based in Harrison, New York. They run multiple arts programs through Sing Sing prison including theatre, music, visual art and writing skills. The recidivism rate for people who go through the RTA is less than 3%, compared to the nationwide rate of 60%.
If you would like to learn more about The RTA, there is a movie about it on prime called Sing Sing! You can also read my review on Sing Sing here.
NYC Books Through Bars donates free books to incarcerated people across the United States of America. They are a volunteer led organization that is in need of donations and support. Their website includes a lot of information about how to volunteer and donate money or books. They also have a full list of genres of books that you can donate! I love how easy they make it to help.
It always warms my heart when I see volunteer-led organizations that do work inside correctional facilities.
This is an organization that I learned about through listening to The Prison Family podcast. They provide support groups to people who have loved ones in jail or prison. Because of what the organization is called, it is easy to assume the group is just for mothers with children who are in a correctional facility, but really the organization is for anyone affected by this issue. Their group meets over zoom on the first Thursday of every month, making it accessible for people all over the country. If you are in need of their support, you can find the link to their group and several others here.
Do you have another organization I should add to this list? Comment below and let me know!
Rise and Reform 
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