The Actors’ Gang Prison Project is a nationally recognized rehabilitation program currently running in 13 California state prisons, 2 Reentry facilities and 3 Los Angeles County Probation camps and halls for youth. The Actors' Gang, a theatre company I co-founded thirty-two years ago in LA was started out of a desire to "to create bold, original works for the stage and daring reinterpretations of
the classics
The work has always reflected and challenged our culture and society and striven to create change, so when I was approached by one of our actors who was interested in starting an outreach to prisons, it seemed a natural extension to the programs we already had in schools. Since 2006, we have taken our workshops into California prisons to help rehabilitate the participants and give them tools to create value in their lives and manage their emotions and interactions to stop the destructive chain of re-offending and violent behavior that affects all our lives. We lead the nation in recidivism within the first three years of release and the State cut all funding to Arts in Corrections programs that have been proven to decimate recidivism and enable people to create valuable lives. I've seen in our seven years of work, transformative change. I've seen the emotional truth in our workshops dissolve years of in**ed hatred. I've seen men transform from cynics to dreamers, embrace compassion as a fundamental part of their personality. They've gone from men with no hope to leaders who mentor others. This is what's possible if we accept that Arts programs are not leisure time, they're programs that create fundamental change and can create profound shifts in the participants' consciousness. And until we find a way to change our laws, give a broader education to our kids and raise up the neglected and struggling communities around us, we will continue to need a wide-ranging, creative approach to rehabilitation and reentry for those who will be rejoining us. And in order to take into account that humans are not just a brain, but also emotions, we continue to require a way to harness and mend that part of the life of the incarcerated. We know that our work can do that and we ask that you join us in supporting this work by donating and advocating so that it can continue at this crucial time. Tim Robbins
Artistic Director
The Actors' Gang
