Life as they know it

Loss can be defined in many ways, and bravery can apply to many people. All humans have the same basic traits and are the same at their core.

These are the central ideas of the film “At Night I Fly” and the related exhibit and discussion on the inmates at the New Folsom Prison in Sacramento, California.

To go hand-in-hand with the topic of this year’s common reading, “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson, the film “At Night I Fly” returned to campus Monday night to spark a discussion about the United States’ prison system.

“(Stevenson) believes nobody is defined by one bad act in their life,” said Anna Plemons, a WSU faculty member and a creative writing teacher at the New Folsom Prison. “People are defined by more than their one worst choice.”

The film gives an in-depth and up-close-and-personal look at the reality of life in a maximum security prison. The average citizen is only exposed to the dramatized version of prison, the kind seen on TV in shows like Orange Is the New Black and Criminal Minds, Plemons said. The film showed some of what people usually think of: the gangs and violence. But it also showed the positive effects of the Arts in Corrections program, and how inmates have been able to find their humanity again through the opportunity to create, she said.

“It’s crazy how (prison) is nothing like what you see in the movie, that it’s not how we think of it,” said Michael Cassleman, a senior digital technology and culture major who came to view the film. “The way the film was made makes you realize the inmates are just like us, just in a cruddier situation.”

The film showed how the inmates were able to use art as a form of release and to get their feelings out to the world, Plemons said.

“The way we can see who people really are is by looking at what they create,” she said. “Through the opportunity to create, people are able to get in touch with their humanity.”

In addition to the film viewing, an exhibit of art created by the inmates is on display in the Bundy Reading Room in Avery Hall through March.

Carol Hinds, a member of the Inmate Family Council, discussed with students what it’s like to have a son in New Folsom Prison.

“I believe it’s a matter of education,” Hinds said. “It’s such a big mess out there, we need to think about (the inmates) and the system.”

Jim Carlson, one of the art teachers at New Folsom, said he thinks the positive changes seen in some of the New Folsom inmates can be tied directly back to the Arts in Corrections program and having a creative outlet.

“The whole film speaks to the power of art, it’s a powerful tool that allows us to create and relate to other people,” he said.

Although the inmates at New Folsom Prison are some of the most dangerous people in the country, Carlson points out that they are still people all the same.

“These are some of the most genuine and real people I know,” he said.

The overarching goal of the film, the discussion by Hinds and the common reading is to start a dialogue about the U.S. incarceration system. That conversation started in Todd 216 when students could ask Hinds and Carlson question after the film. Comments on the similarities between the inmates and regular citizens were made throughout the evening.

“I feel like we’re completely equal to them, but they are doing so much more than myself as a college student,” Cassleman said. “It almost seems courageous in itself that they can make the (Arts in Corrections) program something good for themselves.”

Carlson went on to reference a quote in the film by one of the inmates, Marty, who was talking about how he really wasn’t that much different from the average human.

“We can’t throw people away,” Carlson said. “As Marty says in the film, ‘we are you,’ and if we throw them away, we’re throwing part of ourselves away.

Plemons, Carlson and Hinds said they are pleased with the dialogue students are having on campus about the U.S. prison system, and they are hopeful that the film, exhibit and discussion helped to spark more conversation.