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.

Dates

circa 2020 -- 2021

Access

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

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Transferred by the Tufts University Prison Initiative of the Tisch College of Civic Life (TUPIT) in June 2022, accession UA-2023-001.

Arrangement

This series is arranged chronologically by date of accession.

Extent

1 Linear Feet (1 record carton)

1197 Files

13.14 Gigabytes

679 Digital Object(s)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Overview

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

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.

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. Materials were placed in archival boxes and folders, and arranged alphabetically by name. A finding aid and folder-level invetory were created at the time of processing. Analog submissions to ReSentencing were digitized at the time of processing with some personally identifiable information redacted.