{"id":7286,"date":"2024-07-03T14:55:04","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T14:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artsmidwest.org\/?p=7286"},"modified":"2024-07-03T14:55:06","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T14:55:06","slug":"two-detroit-activists-met-at-a-prison-writing-workshop-now-theyre-providing-a-pathway-for-returning-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsmidwest.org\/stories\/two-detroit-activists-met-at-a-prison-writing-workshop-now-theyre-providing-a-pathway-for-returning-citizens\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Detroit Activists Met at a Prison Writing Workshop, Now They\u2019re Providing a Pathway for Returning Citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This story is republished with permission from Detroit Metro Times<\/a>, your free source for Detroit and Michigan news, arts and culture coverage, restaurant reviews, music, things to do, photos, and more.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Kyle Daniel-Bey was 17, he received a mandatory life in prison sentence for murder. But even a lifetime behind bars couldn\u2019t imprison his creative spirit. \u201cJuvenile lifer\u201d may be one of Daniel-Bey\u2019s descriptors, but so is writer, poet, artist, activist, and teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While serving his sentence at the Macomb Regional Correctional Facility, Daniel-Bey joined a weekly creative writing and art discussion group called the \u201cWriter\u2019s Block.<\/a>\u201d Like Daniel-Bey, many of his fellow Writer\u2019s Block artists were juvenile lifers turned adults who never thought they\u2019d be able to share their work outside of prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then 2012 came. That year, the Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life without-parole sentences for juveniles convicted of murder were unconstitutional<\/a> and considered \u201ccruel and unusual punishment.\u201d The decision was retroactive, leading the way for people like Daniel-Bey to be resentenced and return home, which he did in 2018 after 25 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now in his forties, Daniel-Bey is spearheading an artist residency for returning juvenile lifers like himself, not just to help them settle back into society, but to allow them space to work on their art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been an artist,\u201d Daniel-Bey says over Zoom. \u201cI didn\u2019t think I\u2019d ever see the day\u2026 but when I got out, I didn\u2019t want my art to get lost in all the other things I had to deal with trying to readjust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve always been an artist. I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d ever see the day\u2026 but when I got out, I didn\u2019t want my art to get lost in all the other things I had to deal with trying to readjust.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Kyle Daniel-Bey<\/cite>\n <\/blockquote>\n\n