Tufts University Prison Initiative of the Tisch College of Civic Life (TUPIT) ReSentencing Journal Submissions

Collection

Call Number: UA256

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Content Description

This collection contains the submissions to the Tufts University Prison Initiative of the Tisch College of Civic Life (TUPIT) ReSentencing literary journal. The records include submissions to the journal including stories, poems, essays, photographs, artwork, and letters from prisoners across the United States. The bulk of the material was created in 2021 for the 2022 edition of the ReSentencing journal and include both analog and digital submissions. In addition to the creative work submitted, many folders contain correspondence related to the submissions, often discussing the author’s motivation to submit to the journal or contextual information about the submitter’s life. Submissions may also contain information about the prisoner, including (not consistently) name, age, biographical date, address, prisoner number, sentencing and conviction details, phone numbers, email address, and information about their families. Digital records include all submissions to the journal for the 2022 volume of ReSentencing, as well as acknowledgement letters, design files for the journal, and edited versions of the works chosen for publication.

Dates

Creation: circa 2020 -- 2022

Access

Submissions to ReSentencing are open for research. All other records are restricted for twenty years from the date of creation of the record.

Conditions Governing Use

Some material in this collection may be protected by copyright and other rights. Please see “Reproductions and Use” on the Tufts Archival Research Center website for more information about reproductions and permission to publish. Copyright to all materials created by Tufts University employees in the course of their work is held by the Trustees of Tufts University. Authors of submissions retain copyright.

Biographical / Historical

Tufts University Prison Initiative of the Tisch College of Civic Life (TUPIT) responds to the problems of mass incarceration and racial injustice by connecting Tufts faculty and students with incarcerated and former incarcerated peoples. The program teaches a cohort of students at the MCI-Concord in a formal degree program. TUPIT also provides courses in a Civil Studies certificate program for people directly impacted by incarceration. The organization also connects students from the Tufts campus with students in prison and provides education to the Tufts campus community through symposia, speaking events, films, and exhibits.

The TUPIT program began in 2016 when director Hilary Binda created the college prison program with support of Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life and the University Office of the Provost. Binda established a partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Correction, to creating the degree behind bars program with partner school, Bunker Hill Community College. She created the Tufts Inside-Out course with the support of the MA DOC and Suffolk County facilities which connects students from the Tufts and prison campuses. The Degree Program expanded to include the Tufts Education Re-entry Network (TERN) and through this group developed MyTERN, a year-long certificate program in Civic Studies. MyTERN collaborates with community organizational partners such as Project Place, the Boston Mayor’s Office of Returning Citizens, and Dorchester Bay Community Development Corporation.

Tupit’s journal, ReSentencing, is an art and literary publication that includes poems, stories, essays, and visual art pieces created by current and formerly incarcerated individuals. TUPIT released its first edition of the ReSentencing Journal in August 2022. These creative works often, but not always, discusses the effects of the prison industrial and criminal justice systems on the artist. Some of the submitters have participated in a prison education program with TUPIT or another university. The submissions for the first journal were evaluated by established writers, artists, and scholars, some affiliated with NYU, MIT, Tufts, U Mass, and Yale. The ReSentencing advisory board includes Reginald Dwayne Betts, George Chochos, Michelle Daniel Jones, Helen Elaine Lee, Sandra Lim and ZZ Packer, among other artists and writers. The completed journal was sent to all contributors along with a small monetary compensation. Future editions of the journal are planned.

Extent

1 Linear Feet (1 record carton)

1137 Files

12.2 Gigabytes

680 Digital Object(s) (Of the 680 digital objects in this series, 1 comprises 1137 files)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Overview

This collection contains submissions to and administrative records of ReSentencing Journal, a publication featuring creative work from prisoners across the United States, created by the Tufts University Prison Initiative of Tisch College.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in one series: 2022 ReSentencing Journal.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Physical ReSentencing submissions were transferred by Lizzie Friedman on behalf of TUPIT in June 2022, and digital files by John Lurz in August 2022; accession UA-2023-001.

Accruals

Further accruals are expected on an annual basis.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Devin Bean, Collections and Research Assistant, in Winter 2022, and by Sally Benny, Digital Archivist, in June 2023. Analog materials were placed in archival boxes and folders, and arranged alphabetically by name. Digital materials were bagged using Bagger, and ingested into Preservica. A finding aid and folder-level inventory were created at the time of processing. Submissions to ReSentencing were digitized at the time of processing with some personally identifiable information redacted.