Community Impact
FEATURED SONG: A Long Time Coming
After hearing the story of BTP, high school student, Hodayah Miller, was inspired to make it part of her senior project. As a result, she created "A Long Time Coming", a song inspired by the BTP narrative and the theme of coming home.
PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK
“I am truly inspired. It amazes me that Glenn can bring about so much change from behind prison walls. My thoughts have been altered today and I have been filled with courage that I can make a difference by using my voice.”
-Student at SF State
“I believe what Beyond This Prison is doing is effective in creating change. It is very inspiring to see someone who has been able to see the path through the storm. After today, I feel like nothing is too big to overcome.”
-Student at SF State
“Listening to Glenn's story has really inspired me to look at things in new ways. I was challenged to think about things that simply don’t get discussed often. I feel like his story can really help others and inspire them like it inspired me.”
-High School Student at Leadership Public School
Richmond, CA
“Even though Glenn is confined, it seems as though his mind is as free as any person can be.
After learning about him, I am inspired to let my mind free itself of limitation and ‘shackles’.”
-Student at St. Mary's College
EDUCATOR FEEDBACK
"Beyond This Prison's work is transformative, empowering, and stereotype shattering. It helps youth think about their lives in new and fresh ways, commit ever more deeply to staying out of the school-to-prison pipeline, and helps to build unity and understanding between diverse groups of people--as experiences and wisdom are shared from incarcerated pen-pals to those on the outside."
-Sally Hindman, Director at Youth Spirit Artworks
"Beyond This Prison focuses on questioning and self-expression, and students use writing to form and respond to interesting ideas, and to decide how those ideas relate to their own lived experience. This has the potential to change their attitudes towards writing and open them up to new avenues of critical thought and expression.
As a facilitator, JR has a talent for engaging students of different backgrounds and really listening and responding to what they are saying. He often repeats students’ words and makes interesting connections between their ideas. Even when storytelling, he does not dominate the discussion—it feels as if he’s there for the students, not for his own purposes."
-Amy Glasenhapp, Writing Teacher at SF State University
"BTP brings up universal human experiences and questions that connect to us all-- no matter who we are. JR's facilitation methods allow adolescents to express their experiences in a way that makes them feel alive and connected to each other and themselves."
-Elizabeth Gore, Teacher at Leadership Public School