Enthusiastic Visit
Bluffdale, UT
August 28, 2018
Kelly Vause, Director of Community Projects at Social Construct, was perhaps the first person ever excited to go to prison. As head of the Narratives for Justice initiative, Kelly spent visiting hours at Utah State Prison coordinating inmate participation for involvement in what she sees as only the first step in humanizing the connection between inmates and society. “The personal narratives we are gathering now will become a collection [with the working title] My Yesterday, Your Tomorrow,” Kelly shared. The purpose of which is to provide an audience of adolescent offenders, and at-risk youths, the life stories of adults who lived those experiences in their youth and made the wrong decisions—decisions that ultimately resigned them to prison.
The hope for the collection is that troubled youths will relate to the lives of the inmates, and by such not make the same mistakes. “Being able to relate to another person in a genuine and personal way is the strongest influence any of us can have,” Kelly explained. “This connection will open the kids to the advice of the inmates; and by heeding this advice we have a true preventative measure.”
Kelly was quick to add that the involvement and benefit to the incarcerated participants should not be dismissed. “The inmates are 100% volunteer—they are freely offering to expose their vulnerability, admit their mistakes, open up about where they were wrong, for no other reason than to help the next generation stay straight.” The admiration was evident in Kelly’s voice as she revealed a further aspect of the Narratives for Justice participants. “People are incarcerated because they have taken from society. The inmate volunteers [with Narratives for Justice] are reclaiming their humanity through the act of giving back. They are proving that incarcerated people are still people … that they still care … that they still have value to society.”
What was the source of Kelly’s excitement? “First, John [Lindquist, executive editor of the project] said I can’t be excited about prison, I can only be enthusiastic,” Kelly clarified. “And, second, I’m enthusiastic because of the overwhelming response and participation from inmates. We’ve had several inmates volunteer just through the strength of word of mouth.”
Kelly admitted there is a long road ahead for Narratives for Justice, but accepted that this is a journey with an ever-changing destination. “Because this project lends itself to so many important and underexplored topics, the goal can really be anything that creates a positive change for an otherwise forgotten or dismissed individual. The power is in the journey.”
