The creative writing process as a means for a woman inmate to cope with her incarceration, rehabilitate herself within the prison setting, and prepare for her reentry into society.

摘要

The following dissertation focuses upon the ways that creative writing--but, ultimately, any act of artwork--can facilitate a woman prisoner's capacity to cope productively with her imprisonment and to rehabilitate herself as she pursues goals of independence and happiness within settings that may or may not support those objectives.;The second chapter provides an analysis of various techniques and themes found in women prisoners' published texts, which can be studied within the workshop setting. The third chapter offers an examination of the specific writing processes and philosophies of five workshop participants interviewed at a women's prison in Arkansas.;The fourth chapter begins with a summary of some of the current literature on reentry issues, specifically those involving female ex-prisoners. At the end of this chapter, the benefits of a writing workshop are viewed as potential solutions to common areas of concern regarding a female ex-offender's process of reintegration.;The fifth chapter looks at some of the main responsibilities of a prison workshop instructor hoping to direct incarcerated participants' artistic explorations and to encourage their independent perspectives.;The first chapter reviews three particular texts: an in-depth study done on the culture of a women's prison in California; another dissertation that finds that the writing process does not appear to help a particular group of female inmates; and a fictional text about a prison poetry workshop instructor and her relationship to the incarcerated workshop participants. A comparison of these texts is used to support the thesis that expecting a woman prisoner's coping with her incarceration merely to entail an avoidance of further criminal behavior is not enough. Instead, a woman inmate should be encouraged to act creatively in prison by engaging in an arts activity, such as a writing workshop. This type of program emphasizes positive forms of rehabilitation--though the terms "coping" and "rehabilitation" are both re-defined for the specific purposes of this paper's discussion.;Chapter six concludes this dissertation by recommending the inclusion of more complex, complete, and accurate images of women prisoner characters in mainstream media forms, such as film, as well as literature.