States of Solitary, presented by the Unlock the Box Campaign in partnership with Human Rights Watch and Zealous, is an artivism (art + activism) event that unites 150 justice-impacted individuals, including survivors of solitary confinement, professional service providers, and advocates. This event uses artistic expression to highlight the humanitarian crisis of solitary confinement and envision a future without it, which is recognized as torture by medical experts and human rights organizations. Through art, music, theater, and writing, participants become visionaries, working together to end solitary confinement and create a safer society.

Our event features four workshops and a feature film screening.  Workshops have limited space and, though we will do our best to accommodate preferences, there is no guarantee you will get your first choice. Workshop descriptions:

 

• Voices Unbarred: This workshop centers the voices of people impacted by incarceration, using theater of the oppressed techniques to creatively reimagine the prison system and advocate for change. This interactive community conversation demonstrates the power of theatre and real stories to design policy and advocate for our communities.
  
  
• Freedom Dreaming with LTYC: Facilitated by Leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center , this workshop allows all participants to be visionaries. Our facilitator will lead participants in an interactive workshop that uses guided visualization and group brainstorming to collectively imagine alternatives to solitary confinement, and what a world without solitary looks like (eg transforming a prison into a community center) Working together, we will create a single collaborative artwork representing our shared vision for a more just and humane future.
  
  
• Free Minds Letter Writing: Facilitated by Free Minds Book Club and sponsored by Haymarket Books, participants of this workshop will have a chance to read letters/poetry and art works from people currently incarcerated. With guidance from facilitators, participants will personally respond to these letters, giving uplifting messages to those inside and separated from loved ones.
  
  
• Advocacy Through Walls: Facilitated by Zealous, this workshop focuses on how to ethically and intentionally engage with people currently incarcerated or directly impacted by the criminal legal system. Based on it’s interactive website guide and over 1000 hours of interviews, this workshop will help advocate, especially those who are not directly impacted by the carceral system, understand the importance of leading with humanity, the ins and outs of building trust, what is means to be trauma-informed, and how to center that process, not outcome, to ensure a space for mutual learning
  
  
• Screening of The Strike:  An exclusive screening of feature film, “The Strike,” where directors JoeBill Munoz and Lucas Guilkey chronicle a 2013 prison hunger strike that changed imprisonment policies across the U.S.

  The doc tells the story of America’s supermax prison Pelican Bay, which opened in 1989 and was designed specifically for mass-scale solitary confinement. For decades, the California prison held mostly Black and Brown men alone in tiny cells without windows for years or sometimes decades based on questionable evidence. In 2013, 30,000 California prisoners went on hunger strike in an attempt to end indefinite solitary confinement and regain access to the general prison population.