Unlocked: Art and Experiences from Inside Virginia's Prisons
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- Unlocked: Art and Experiences from Inside Virginia's Prisons, vol. 5Coalition for Justice; Center for Humanities; Breslau, Margaret (Virginia Tech Publishing, 2025-10)With this biannual online project, we seek to amplify the voices of the incarcerated in our state through their poems, spoken word, personal reflections, and artwork. In doing so, we not only lift the concerns and creativity of those behind bars, but we also provide a healing space where imagination and talent serve to restore and empower. Art humanizes, engages, makes us think, and creates connections. It has always been a powerful agent for change if we just unlock it. Unlocked, vol. 5 includes poetry, artwork, and interviews by: Margaret Breslau, Anthony Maurice Jordan, Kermit Williams, Harry Traynham, Tommy “Siraj” Helms, Tremayne Seymour, Shebri Dillon, Jennifer Mora, Christopher Jefferson, Shounques Bynum, Roel Delua, James Stephens, Lawrence Bazemore, Alfonso “Ghaza” Skyles, Stephano Colosi, Minh Du, Gwendolyn Burton, Lorenzo Perry, Chander Matta, Javaros Thomas, Natasha L. Maready, Mithrellas Curtis, Jerry Sayers, Abbas J. Ahmed, Canaan Swift, Joshua Hairston, Anthony Winn, Tevin McGougan, Eugene Schuler, Darren Harris, Marlin Maurice Dumas, Raheem Langhorne, and Taj Mahon-Haft.
- Anthony Maurice Jordan’s interview, Unlocked vol. 5Jordan, Anthony Maurice; Mahon-Haft, Taj (Virginia Tech Publishing, 2025)Anthony Maurice Jordan’s interview and reading of “Reflections” from Unlocked, vol. 5.
- Kermit Williams interview, Unlocked vol. 5Williams, Kermit; Mahon-Haft, Taj (Virginia Tech Publishing, 2025)Kermit Williams interview and reading of “What Can Be the Price of a Soul” from Unlocked, vol. 5.
- Tommy “Siraj” Helms’s interview, Unlocked vol. 5Helms, Tommy “Siraj”; Mahon-Haft, Taj (Virginia Tech Publishing, 2025)Tommy “Siraj” Helms’s interview and reading of “I’m Institutionalized” from Unlocked, vol. 5.
- Shebri Dillon’s interview, Unlocked vol. 5Dillon, Shebri; Breslau, Margaret (Virginia Tech Publishing, 2025)Shebri Dillon’s interview from Unlocked, vol. 5.
- Alfonso “Ghaza” Skyles’s interview, Unlocked vol. 5Skyles, Alfonso “Ghaza”; Mahon-Haft, Taj (Virginia Tech Publishing, 2025)Alfonso “Ghaza” Skyles’s interview and reading of “Giovanni Was Her Name”
- Canaan Swift’s interview, Unlocked vol. 5Swift, Canaan; Mahon-Haft, Taj (Virginia Tech Publishing, 2025)Canaan Swift’s interview and reading of “Exclusively In and Out” from Unlocked, vol. 5
- Joshua Hairston’s interview, Unlocked vol. 5Hairston, Joshua; Mahon-Haft, Taj (Virginia Tech Publishing, 2025)Joshua Hairston’s interview and reading of “P.O.W.” from Unlocked, vol. 5.
- Anthony Winn’s interview, Unlocked vol. 5Winn, Anthony; Mahon-Haft, Taj (Virginia Tech Publishing, 2025)Anthony Winn’s interview and reading of “A Weekend of Displacement” from Unlocked, vol. 5.
- Unlocked: Art and Experiences from Inside Virginia's Prisons, vol. 4Breslau, Margaret; Coalition for Justice (Virginia Tech Publishing, 2024-12)With this biannual online project, we seek to amplify the voices of the incarcerated in our state through their poems, spoken word, personal reflections, and artwork. In doing so, we not only lift the concerns and creativity of those behind bars, but we also provide a healing space where imagination and talent serve to restore and empower. Art humanizes, engages, makes us think, and creates connections. It has always been a powerful agent for change if we just unlock it. Unlocked, vol. 4 includes poetry and artwork by: Mikey “Bear” Berryman, Alfonso “Quillz” Skyles, Piper Rountree, Charles Smith, David Sowers, Gwendolyn Burton, El Presynt, James P. Davis, Hazel Miller, Henry Herrera, Darren Harris, Canaan Swift, Michael Bryant, Babi Kitelonga (Congo Black), John Sherwood, Shounques Bynum, Wayne “Infinite” Thomas Jr., Tevin Sai’fullah McGougan, Anthony Winn, Sandra Krantz, Justin Vaughan, John Anderson III, Joel Aaron Burrell, Joshua Hairston, Quincy Cornell Jones, Tiocio Seward, Toby Stephens, Rachel Parsons, Ryan Brown, R. S. McCroskey III, Glenn Harrison, and Bethany L. Padron.
- Unlocked: Art and Experiences From Inside Virginia's Prisons, Volume 3Breslau, Margaret (Virginia Tech Publishing, 2023-11-21)Among the approximately 25,000 people currently incarcerated in the Commonwealth of Virginia are mothers, fathers, siblings, and youths, who, like all other human beings, have stories to tell, ideas to share, and questions that can take on a life of their own in the way that all literature can do. With this biannual journal, we seek to amplify the voices of the incarcerated in our state through their poems, spoken word, personal reflections, and artwork. In doing so, we not only lift the concerns and creativity of those behind bars, but we also provide a healing space where imagination and talent serve to restore and empower. Art humanizes, engages, makes us think, and creates connections. It has always been a powerful agent for change if we just unlock it.
- Gen-O-Cide: AUDIO from Unlocked: Art and Experiences From Inside Virginia's Prisons(Virginia Tech Publishing, 2023-11-15)
- Tina Turner: AUDIO from Unlocked: Art and Experiences From Inside Virginia's Prisons, V3(Virginia Tech Publishing, 2023-11-15)
- Crickets: AUDIO from Unlocked: Art and Experiences From Inside Virginia's Prisons(Virginia Tech Publishing, 2023-11-15)
- Unlocked: Art and Experiences From Inside Virginia's Prisons, Volume 2.1Breslau, Margaret (Virginia Tech Publishing, 2023-02-23)With this biannual online project, we seek to amplify the voices of the incarcerated in our state through their poems, spoken word, personal reflections, and artwork. In doing so, we not only lift the concerns and creativity of those behind bars, but we also provide a healing space where imagination and talent serve to restore and empower. Art humanizes, engages, makes us think, and creates connections. It has always been a powerful agent for change if we just unlock it. This second issue of our burgeoning publication broadens the spectrum of colors with which we paint our lives, wishes, and recollections, taking readers further into truly understanding the lived human experience of mass incarceration. In doing so, it digs deeper and further into the escape tunnel that is a voice expressed and heard.
- "Vote or Veto": AUDIO from Unlocked: Art and Experiences From Inside Virginia's PrisonsBreslau, Margaret; Shabazzallah, Hassan Raashann (Virginia Tech Publishing, 2023-02-24)
- "Open Yo Eyes" AUDIO from Unlocked: Art and Experiences From Insides Virginia's Prisons, Volume 2.1Breslau, Margaret (Virginia Tech Publishing, 2023-02-24)
- Unlocked: Art and Experiences From Inside Virginia's PrisonsJohnson, Sylvester; Breslau, Margaret (Virginia Tech Publishing, 2022-07)Among the approximately 25,000 people currently incarcerated in the Commonwealth of Virginia are mothers, fathers, siblings, and youths, who, like all other human beings, have stories to tell, ideas to share, and questions that can take on a life of their own in the way that all literature can do. With this biannual journal, we seek to amplify the voices of the incarcerated in our state through their poems, spoken word, personal reflections, and artwork. In doing so, we not only lift the concerns and creativity of those behind bars, but we also provide a healing space where imagination and talent serve to restore and empower. Art humanizes, engages, makes us think, and creates connections. It has always been a powerful agent for change if we just unlock it.