About the Cover Art

I made this drawing in 2016 as cover for our prison newsletter. I have been in prison for many years. I wanted this drawing to be a metaphor of what I think is the usual relationship between prison staff and prisoners. The snake represents the prevailing justice system and how it works in jail. The snake disguises itself in the wall, always ready, sneaking in and out to look upon the prisoner and prey on him, but never in the open. The system always wants us to be responsible but simultaneously creates a completely impossible environment in which to show that responsibility, driving prisoners to absurd situations if they attempt to follow the rules and powerless to defend themselves from the results. The snake is still there today, but fortunately I keep it in the wall, away from me as much as possible. --Loco (M.B.

A Note About the Cover Art

Give Us Opportunities, 2016 Artist: Tee Digital Print Performing Statistics is a cultural organizing project that uses art to model, imagine, and advocate for alternatives to youth incarceration. Every summer, the project creates art with a group of teens in the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center’s post-dispositional program about their experiences navigating the justice system and their vision for a world without youth prisons. The artwork is then produced in a number of ways in order to reach decision-makers in the education, law enforcement, and juvenile justice systems. The project’s ethos looks to young people impacted by the juvenile justice system as experts society should listen to when considering policies that most impact them. Give Us Opportunities was created in the summer of 2016 and speaks to the kinds of investments young people would like to see to keep them out of the system. Jobs, credible messenger mentors, culturally competent after-school programming, more supportive educational environments, and stable housing are just a few examples of the kinds of investments that come up regularly in the project’s programming. In 2020, Performing Statistics will premier No Kids in Prison, a national touring exhibition that will amplify youth justice movements across the country and weave a national narrative of youth stories, dreams, and demands. More information about the project can be found at www.performingstatistics.org. The cover art is used with permission from ART 180

About the Cover Art, JPER Vol 5#2

My Choice of Weapon, 2017 M. Nguyen Oil Pastel 16” x 20” “Beyond the Blue” is a traveling exhibition of over 100 works of art created by incarcerated individuals participating in weekly arts programming through the Prison Arts Collective (PAC). The artists included seek to transform their lives through art and aim to shift society’s stereotypical image of ‘inmate’ or ‘prisoner’ by sharing their personal expressions and common humanity. “Beyond the Blue” opened at CB1 Gallery in Los Angeles in June 2017 and has traveled to additional venues, including Homegirl Cafe in Los Angeles, with scheduled visits throughout Southern California galleries and museums through 2020. Along with the exhibition, the PAC has organized a series of panels on Art and Restorative Justice which seek to examine a variety of issues and considerations surrounding the experience of incarceration. The Prison Arts Collective is a project led by California State University, San Bernardino, professor, Annie Buckley, which facilitates weekly programs in eight California state prisons and will expand to twelve institutions by 2020. The PAC’s multidisciplinary arts classes are led by a collaborative team of teaching artists, university students, and peer facilitators. The program also offers a comprehensive Arts Facilitator Training program for incarcerated individuals that want to grow as leaders and mentors. The PAC is supported by Arts in Corrections, an initiative of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the California Arts Council