In March 2017, New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio pledged to close the Rikers Island jail complex within 10 years and introduced plans to build four new “borough-based” jails in the city. Who decides where new jails get built? How do jails impact surrounding neighborhoods? What are the impacts of jails on the incarcerated, their families, and their communities?
In the spring of 2018, CUP collaborated with Teaching Artist Stephen Kwok and public high school students from Life Sciences Secondary School to investigate these questions. Students got out of the classroom to create public art interventions, survey community members near the Manhattan Detention Complex, and interview key stakeholders working on the issue. The crew gathered what they learned and created From Cellblock to Your Block, a booklet that teaches others what students discovered about NYC’s jails.
Students debuted their project at the 96th Street Library where they presented their booklet, demonstrated their interview skills, and shared their creative process.
Get your own booklet here!