Christopher Zoukis's Blog - Posts Tagged "ohio"
Because art matters—even in prison
This week marks the opening of an exhibit in an Ohio gallery that will feature the artwork of prisoners from across the state. The exhibition, entitled “Inside Looking Out: Creative Works by Ohio Prison Inmates” will be on display at the Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery.
While much of my focus as an activist and writer is centered around more academic education, I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge how important art education and facilitation is to an inmate’s rehabilitation as well.
So why art in prison? Well, we could certainly begin with the same answers to the more general question of “why art?” There are far too many to list here, but fundamentally it is because art feeds the soul, allows us to better understand the world around us and ourselves. This is website has a great sampling of what I mean.
But when it comes to the prison context, the role of art becomes something else entirely. For some, art is a means of survival. There’s a reason no one ever uses the term “institutional” to describe something of beauty. Prison buildings are by design bleak, dreary, empty, and arguably, soulless. Day upon day we are staring at blank walls, at emptiness. Art affords one the opportunity to see a way through that, to believe that change is possible, to give one hope.
From a more pragmatic perspective, arts and cultural education encourages the development of left brain thinking, and allows students to broaden their analytical skills. And just like with more traditional prison education, participation in arts programs has been shown to reduce recidivism.
The therapeutic value of artistic expression is immeasurable in quantitative terms, but art therapists know its impact. The majority of prisoners will never have had access to mental health resources, counsellors, or the like. And so the idea of suddenly opening up to a complete stranger about deep-seeded personal issues is not only foreign to them, it may be terrifying or even distasteful. But creative endeavours allow the opportunity for exploring those issues safely and productively. You cannot understate the value of creative production, because it also affords something that many prisoners have never had: a sense of self-worth.
And for those of you on the outside looking in, I guarantee you that prisoners’ art will provide you a window into lives you’ve never known, perspectives you’ve never considered, and a humanity you’d not have thought possible. If you are in the Ohio area, I encourage you to take a moment to see the new exhibition. And if you’re not, The Prison Arts Coalition is a wonderful resource to explore.
While much of my focus as an activist and writer is centered around more academic education, I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge how important art education and facilitation is to an inmate’s rehabilitation as well.
So why art in prison? Well, we could certainly begin with the same answers to the more general question of “why art?” There are far too many to list here, but fundamentally it is because art feeds the soul, allows us to better understand the world around us and ourselves. This is website has a great sampling of what I mean.
But when it comes to the prison context, the role of art becomes something else entirely. For some, art is a means of survival. There’s a reason no one ever uses the term “institutional” to describe something of beauty. Prison buildings are by design bleak, dreary, empty, and arguably, soulless. Day upon day we are staring at blank walls, at emptiness. Art affords one the opportunity to see a way through that, to believe that change is possible, to give one hope.
From a more pragmatic perspective, arts and cultural education encourages the development of left brain thinking, and allows students to broaden their analytical skills. And just like with more traditional prison education, participation in arts programs has been shown to reduce recidivism.
The therapeutic value of artistic expression is immeasurable in quantitative terms, but art therapists know its impact. The majority of prisoners will never have had access to mental health resources, counsellors, or the like. And so the idea of suddenly opening up to a complete stranger about deep-seeded personal issues is not only foreign to them, it may be terrifying or even distasteful. But creative endeavours allow the opportunity for exploring those issues safely and productively. You cannot understate the value of creative production, because it also affords something that many prisoners have never had: a sense of self-worth.
And for those of you on the outside looking in, I guarantee you that prisoners’ art will provide you a window into lives you’ve never known, perspectives you’ve never considered, and a humanity you’d not have thought possible. If you are in the Ohio area, I encourage you to take a moment to see the new exhibition. And if you’re not, The Prison Arts Coalition is a wonderful resource to explore.
Inmates at Ohio Prison Secretly Built Computers, Used Them for Crimes
For over three months, five inmates in Ohio’s medium-security Marion Correctional Institution tapped into the prison’s network to run two computers they had built piecemeal from parts scavenged from a nonprofit group’s job training program. The program teaches inmates how to disassemble and recycle outdated computer equipment as part of Marion’s “Green Initiative” program.
The inmates installed ethernet cable and tapped into a hub on the prison’s network. They also loaded more than two dozen hacking programs to sidestep network safeguards and access prison records, and went online to search inmate disciplinary and sentencing records, find inmate locations, and create passes needed to gain entrance to restricted areas within the prison.
Using imaging software, they secretly copied the hard drive from a training computer for inmates to power their homemade machines and sign on to the prison’s computer system, using login information belonging to a retired corrections official, who had gone part-time on the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ORCD) payroll.
According to a 50-page report released by the Ohio Inspector General’s Office April 12, the inmates, most of whom were serving life sentences, used the home-brew computers to conduct a variety of criminal activities. These included identity theft (stealing personal identification of an inmate in another prison), and credit card fraud (they applied for five new credit cards in the name of the prisoner whose name, date of birth and Social Security number they had stolen).
They also accessed the internet to access pornography, recipes for making drugs and information useful for other crimes. For instance, they used a Bloomberg article on tax fraud they found online as a guide for attempts to file false refund claims in the names of others and get the refunds sent electronically to debit cards.
While the state Inspector General’s report appeared just recently, the events it described actually occurred several years earlier. The report faults prison officials for failing to make required notifications to the governor, the state highway patrol, and the inspector general’s office, after a computing security software program alerted ORCD officials it had detected unusually heavy use of its system by one user —the ex-Marion training officer who formerly supervised the prison’s Green Initiative program and was now working part-time for the ORCD.
When the prison noted the days of his heaviest use did not match up with his actual work schedule, the warden and an investigator there suspected that meant prisoners were making unauthorized use of prison computers, but failed to report that. The Inspector General’s report also identified numerous other lapses in the prison’s security practices.
After about a month of searching, the prison’s investigation traced the computers’ port number to a network switch near the room where inmates received computer training from a local nonprofit group. They eventually found the jerry-rigged computers hidden on pieces of plywood stashed above the ceiling tiles of a conveniently located storage closet.
The inmates involved in the caper were dispersed to other prisons. The Ohio Inspected General told a computer publication the inmates’ scheme reminded him of “an episode of Hogan's Heroes,” but added it also seemed unlike anything “you’d think would happen in today’s correctional facilities.”
The inmates installed ethernet cable and tapped into a hub on the prison’s network. They also loaded more than two dozen hacking programs to sidestep network safeguards and access prison records, and went online to search inmate disciplinary and sentencing records, find inmate locations, and create passes needed to gain entrance to restricted areas within the prison.
Using imaging software, they secretly copied the hard drive from a training computer for inmates to power their homemade machines and sign on to the prison’s computer system, using login information belonging to a retired corrections official, who had gone part-time on the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ORCD) payroll.
According to a 50-page report released by the Ohio Inspector General’s Office April 12, the inmates, most of whom were serving life sentences, used the home-brew computers to conduct a variety of criminal activities. These included identity theft (stealing personal identification of an inmate in another prison), and credit card fraud (they applied for five new credit cards in the name of the prisoner whose name, date of birth and Social Security number they had stolen).
They also accessed the internet to access pornography, recipes for making drugs and information useful for other crimes. For instance, they used a Bloomberg article on tax fraud they found online as a guide for attempts to file false refund claims in the names of others and get the refunds sent electronically to debit cards.
While the state Inspector General’s report appeared just recently, the events it described actually occurred several years earlier. The report faults prison officials for failing to make required notifications to the governor, the state highway patrol, and the inspector general’s office, after a computing security software program alerted ORCD officials it had detected unusually heavy use of its system by one user —the ex-Marion training officer who formerly supervised the prison’s Green Initiative program and was now working part-time for the ORCD.
When the prison noted the days of his heaviest use did not match up with his actual work schedule, the warden and an investigator there suspected that meant prisoners were making unauthorized use of prison computers, but failed to report that. The Inspector General’s report also identified numerous other lapses in the prison’s security practices.
After about a month of searching, the prison’s investigation traced the computers’ port number to a network switch near the room where inmates received computer training from a local nonprofit group. They eventually found the jerry-rigged computers hidden on pieces of plywood stashed above the ceiling tiles of a conveniently located storage closet.
The inmates involved in the caper were dispersed to other prisons. The Ohio Inspected General told a computer publication the inmates’ scheme reminded him of “an episode of Hogan's Heroes,” but added it also seemed unlike anything “you’d think would happen in today’s correctional facilities.”
