Our Story

Poetic Justice began with a writing workshop offered by Claire Collins and Ellen Stackable in the women’s pod of Tulsa, Oklahoma’s county jail.

Poetic Justice held its first class at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center, Oklahoma’s largest women's prison. Today, we are also at Eddie Warrior Correctional Center and three county jails in Oklahoma.

Classes began at La Esperanza, a rehabilitation center in Tijuana, Mexico. Today Poetic Justice served women in three locations in Mexico.

Poetic Justice California began programming at the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Center in San Diego. Today, PJ California now teaches 7 classes in 2 county jails, 2 prisons, and 1 juvenile facility.

In March, the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible for us to continue in-person programming.  Within a week of the prisons shutting down to volunteers, we created our Distance Learning program. Due to the success and need of this, it continues to thrive.

Poetic Justice began in the state of Oregon as we started classes at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, which is the only women's prison in the state.

The first photographs for Voices On The Inside were taken at the California Institution for Women. The exhibit of this show in Tulsa, Oklahoma led to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections allowing this project to expand to facilities in Oklahoma. The project continues to travel across the nation.

In October, we began in-person classes at the Central California Women's Facility in Northern California, which is the second largest women's facility in the US.

Poetic Justice grew to include special projects like Prison Journalism and the Children’s Literature Project, and Poetic Justice’s first implementation of a gender-responsive and trauma-informed workshop at a men’s facility. Poetic Justice also expanded into the juvenile facilities in California and county facilities in Massachusetts this year.

[Photo Credit: Lisa Loftus Photography]