On May 8th 2002 12 - 2 pm in New York City
PROTEST the denial of artistic expression for prisoners!
A Rally will be held across the street from Governor Pataki's Office at 40th and 3rd Ave in NYC.
For more information call Anthony Papa at (212) 596-9445.
To see Anthony's art go to: http://www.15yearstolife.com/

Commissioner's Ban on Inmates' Art Sales Ends Annual Show
By ROBERT F. WORTH
New York Times, March 30, 2002

The New York State corrections commissioner announced yesterday that he had banned the sale of artwork created by prison inmates, saying the benefits of such sales are not worth the anguish they cause to crime victims and their families.

The decision by Commissioner Glenn S. Goord ends an annual spring art show, "Corrections on Canvas," that had been held for 35 years in the Legislative Office Building in Albany. Mr. Goord's decision also eliminates the sale or display of inmates' art in galleries or at arts and crafts shows.

The state's 67,000 inmates are free to produce any kind of art, but they can no longer profit from it, said James Flateau, a spokesman for the Department of Correctional Services. Since 1996, inmates have kept half the profits from most art sales, with the rest going to the state's Crime Victims Board. Last year, the Albany show earned $5,394 for the state.

"The original idea was to show inmates doing something that was perceived as positive and that contributed to their rehabilitation," Mr. Flateau said. "In more recent years it has been perceived as the state providing a forum for inmates to profit."

Last year there were protests after the Albany show featured work by Arthur Shawcross, a serial killer who was convicted of killing 11 women in the Rochester area in the 1980's and is now serving a 250-year sentence at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in the Catskills. Mr. Shawcross's artworks included sketches of Princess Diana and Santa Claus, with asking prices of more than $500 each, far more than those for most of the other artworks on display.

After the show opened, Gov. George E. Pataki told Mr. Goord to ban notorious violent felons from future shows. Mr. Goord, who had always been uncomfortable with the show, decided several months ago to go further, banning all violent criminals, Mr. Flateau said. He then decided to ban the sale of all inmates' art.

"It's a very distressing move," said Robert Gangi, the director of the Correctional Association of New York, a prison watchdog group. "Art can contribute to the rehabilitative process, and when you take away the incentive for recognition, you are telling inmates that their art is not worthy of public display."

He added that many inmates were in prison for nonviolent offenses, and that to penalize them along with serial killers like Mr. Shawcross was unfair.

Buzz Alexander, the director of the Prison Creative Arts Project in Ann Arbor, Mich., said a number of states have inmate art exhibit programs. "It helps keep prisons safe, because inmates doing creative work are in a far more positive state of mind," he said. "It's puzzling to me that anyone would take that away."

Anthony Papa, a former convict who studied art at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility and who gained wide acclaim after his self-portrait was exhibited in the Whitney Museum, said: "This is unbelievable. Once this program falls in one state, it could happen all over.

"Art saved my life," said Mr. Papa, who was granted clemency for a drug conviction by Mr. Pataki, and released in 1997. "It helped me transcend the negativity of prison."

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