About The Visting Room
There are exactly 18 state prisons in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. There are over 11,000 inmates (about 2,000 are serving life sentences) currently serving time in one of these institutions. What we know of these individuals lives, and their experiences within prison has escaped public scrutiny. This is possible because of a media lockout imposed by the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. While the lockout does not completely block media, it severly limits journalists access to prisoners and thereby what is reported. The Massachusetts Department of Correction has strict guidelines with regard to it's interviewing policies and recording equipment. Even the amount of time it takes for a journalist to gain access to a facility inhibits the ability to report on issues in a timely, relevant manner.
Officially, the Massachusetts Department of Correction lists it's mission as "The Massachusetts Department of Correction's mission is to promote public safety by incarcerating offenders while providing opportunities for participation in effective programming designed to reduce recidivism."
The Visting Room was created in order to open a forum for prisoners, their families and supporters to express themselves without the limitations imposed by the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. Limitations that may negate the DOC 's goal of reducing recidivism. Individuals who are stripped of the means and modes to express themselves are in turn stripped of some part of their humanity, when thrust brutally back into society these individuals often find expressing themselves to be uncomfortable or they often resort to violent forms of expression, i.e. domestic violence, violent crimes.
The sole purpose and intent of The Visting Room is not to argue issues of crime and punishment but rather to provide a forum for prisoners to write in their own words their experiences, desires, and expectations. By giving these women and men a forum to express themselves, The Visting Room hopes to positively empower individuals to engage in discussions and activities that will return them to society as more humane, thinking individuals ready to intiate and or particpate in grass root activsim in order to instigate and sustain change within their communities.
