Mural Arts Program: Restorative Justice

Restorative Justice

The Mural Arts Program began as part of the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network and was initially developed to provide alternatives to young people who were engaged in graffiti and other minor crimes. While the program has grown substantially over the years, this fundamental objective still applies-to use mural-making and art education as a means of combating and preventing crime and its impact on communities.

For years we have taken a pro-active role in dealing with issues around crime and delinquency by increasing the programs available to adult inmates at local correctional facilities, ex-offenders re-entering their communities, juveniles arrested for minor crimes and in residential placement, chronically truant youth, residents of crime-impacted neighborhoods and victims of crime.

Restorative Programs for Adults

Ann Northrup and inmate artists at Riverside Correctional Facility celebrate the dedication of Going Home, the mural on which they collaborated. Photo by Clem Murray for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Mural Arts Program offers a wide array of mural-making programs for adult men and women at correctional facilities in the Philadelphia area-The State Correctional Institution (SCI) at Graterford and several sites within the Philadelphia Prison System, including Riverside Correctional Facility for women, Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, the House of Correction and the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center. Our programs within the criminal justice system are designed to be restorative and incorporate social and basic educational skills for inmates, providing a forum for discussing the impact of crime and allowing inmates an opportunity to make amends for their crime by restoring their communities through art and mural projects. In addition, we host an annual Prison Art Show featuring work by inmates and juveniles.

The program at SCI Graterford has developed over the past seven years into a highly acclaimed art and mural-making program. Inmates have been involved in over two dozen large scale community murals, from design through painting. We work with men enrolled in an officially recognized work program in which participants receive a stipend to create murals for schools and community centers throughout Philadelphia. Collaborations with victim advocates, community members and juvenile offenders have resulted in the creation of murals on the themes of healing, balanced and restorative justice and forgiveness. In addition, SCI Graterford hosted participants in the national Arts in Criminal Justice conference sponsored by the Mural Arts Program in October 2007.

Dedication ceremony at SCI Graterford for the Tribute to Rosa Parks mural.

We also have mural-making programs in the Philadelphia Prison System. Through these programs, we have facilitated the creation of murals with inmates to enhance activities areas and several outdoor yards. In addition, several large exterior murals have been created. All mural projects include workshops with the inmates focusing on basic art instruction and mural painting. We have also begun a new initiative, hiring released inmates to help paint and install murals in their communities.

Reentry workers paint murals throughout the city.

Restorative Justice Programs for Youth

The Mural Arts Program is currently working with adjudicated youth at five sites: the Philadelphia Youth Study Center (YSC) a detention center for youth; Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center (PICC), where youth who have been charged as adults are detained; St. Gabriel's Hall, a residential program for delinquent boys; and VisionQuest-particularly juveniles participating in the HomeQuest program. We are also collaborating with VisionQuest to provide programming for adjudicated youth in supervised independent living homes.

At YSC and PICC, art instruction is held weekly. Due to the short term nature of these programs, students work on individual pieces of art while receiving basic art instruction. In addition, juveniles at PICC design and install murals in their housing unit. At St. Gabriel's Hall, youth have collaborated with inmates at SCI Graterford to design and paint several large community murals. The inmates and youth meet and discuss themes of forgiveness, crime, its impact on communities, and decision making. While sharing personal stories, they discuss the harm they have caused themselves, their families and the community. Students receive instruction in mural-making and create outdoor murals. Students who are highly motivated are encouraged to continue Mural Arts Program instruction at the E3 Power Centers as part of their community re-integration plan when they return home.

If you are interested in more information about restorative justice programming offered by the Mural Arts Program, please contact Robyn Buseman, Director of Adjudicated Programming, at 215.685.0756 or robyn.buseman@muralarts.org.