There are one thousand inmates at the Hattieville Prison. None of them are there by choice but there are some who do choose to make the best of it. Among those are the 38 prisoners who have chosen to be a part of the prison’s art program. Their work is being highlighted as part of Kolbe week. Keith Swift today met two prisoners who showed us proof that serving hard time and sketching go hand in hand.
Keith SwiftReporting,
Lenten Polonio is a convicted killer serving a life sentence for murder and Luis Valladares has four months more to serve for handling stolen goods. Far different crimes but these inmates share a passion for art. Polonio is a sculptor -who is hard at work on this zericote masterpiece.
Lenton Polonio, Prison Inmate/Sculptor
“If I feel a little stressed I go and work and try to blank out my mind.”
Keith Swift,
So working on art is a stress reliever for you? How so?
Lenton Polonio,
“Cause I find myself deep within my piece of work and as you can observe
my piece of work is one of a kind.”
Keith Swift,
What’s the idea of it?
Lenton Polonio,
“Well it is just to relieves my stress so it is not like I have a clue of what I am going to do when I start. I find myself deep within it. It is what I love. I do something I love. From I was young I always found myself sketching something on a piece of paper so I find the wood challenging because the nature of wood is hard so it relieves a lot of my stress because it is challenging. It is hard so I find myself within it, beating and sculpting a piece of wood.”
Luis Valladares’ escape is a canvas.
Luis Valladares, Inmate & Artist
“When I do art, I express my feelings, myself. Right now I am working
in portraits, doing people’s faces. I draw it with pencil and then I just start to imagine it in my own mind. I don’t have to see it, I have it pictured in my mind. So like that, I pictured lots of things like some views. Imagination brings out things from my mind.”
Keith Swift,
Do you know think mein if I had stuck to my art, I wouldn’t be in jail?
Luis Valladares,
“Yeah. When I was in society I was using drugs so I came here with a decision to make a difference in my life and thanks to God he has already helped me with that. I am not smoking, I am thinking for a good future.”
A good future – drawing instead of using. Director of Rehabilitation and Education at Kolbe Tony Gabb says art can be therapeutic for inmates.
Tony Gabb, Director of Education & Rehabilitation at Kolbe
“Art is a good way for people to express themselves, to release themselves, to get rid of stress, to ease their mind and that is good rehabilitation. We use it for the inmates. We have a lot of other programs but the art program is really coming along strong and we decided to have an art show and this is the third year that we had the art show. It is a good way for the inmates to release themselves and bring out their feelings to express themselves.”
We should note that upon his release from prison, Luis Valldares will be eligible for a scholarship to finish his high school diploma at St. John’s Extension. All the pieces are for sale and will be on display until the end of the week. Kolbe week continues tomorrow with a social studies quiz and spelling bee.
