(RACINE, Wis.) – It is often difficult to find the proper channels and motivation to express creativity while incarcerated. Institutions offer classes and programs that allow those in DOC care to engage in learning opportunities, however, these resources can only go so far. One group of men at Racine Correctional Institution (RCI) has found a way to not only express themselves on paper, but to also share their truth with those around them.

Prose & Cons is a creative writing group made up of persons in DOC care. The members of Prose & Cons often showcase their talents by performing spoken word and poetry at institution graduations and putting on their own productions at RCI. The men meet weekly in a group setting, often completing homework assignments and sharing pieces with one another.

Many of the men involved in this group have at least some prior writing experience, but few have dabbled in spoken word. Through Prose & Cons, they enjoy the opportunity to share their work, to learn from each other and to be part of something bigger than just themselves.

Pros & Cons' most recent performance took place at the end of October, as the men put on an original production titled A Matter of Time for institution staff and persons in DOC care. The production focused on the lifecycle of a person in DOC care from arrest to release, and in the final scene, showed how individuals can have a positive impact after release by reaching back out to those still incarcerated.

After a successful opening night, the group wanted to give thanks to their fearless leader, Ms. Pritzlaff, who also serves as the librarian at RCI. They insisted that without Ms. Pritzlaff, none of their work would be possible.

The members of Prose & Cons stuck around after the performance to talk more about the reason for their involvement with this group, as well as their motivation for writing and sharing their work with others.

Can you talk about why you decided to join Prose & Cons?

It's one of the few genuine outlets for self- expression that's not regulated in any type of way. Between ourselves, we are able to be authentic, we don't have to worry about judgement in any way shape or form or fashion. Also, as far as the structure of it, it's constructive because we all hold each other accountable for this production. We all had to make sure we were all here on time, make sure nobody was being sent to the hole. We had to put our egos to the side. That's why I'm involved with this group personally, because it's one of the positive things that is an outlet for self-expression.

Prose & Cons came to me at a time where I had a lot of pain in my heart, a lot of grief, and I was going through a lot. And a lot of my poetry expresses that, after my loss… it's allowed me to express myself creatively and release that pain in a positive manner instead of holding it in and doing something destructive or hurting myself or hurting someone else. So it's given me that outlet and provided me with a stepping stone to elevate and progress in life, and I really appreciate having this.

There's a truth that we all have that everybody knows. They can Google it, they can read it in a newspaper, see it on the news, but then there's the truth in us they don't know. Or a bettering of ourselves, like a reconciliation, a reformation, and that's the truth we're trying to work towards. The criminal part is the past.

Creative expression is a way of retaining my sanity in an environment that is quite often insane.

Not many times do you get to work with people of all different races, all different backgrounds, different ages, and this brings us all together. And I think I can call all these gentlemen my brothers.

Prose & Cons for me is therapy. You know, when my mother passed away, I was in darkness, and it helped me navigate back towards the light.

I love Prose & Cons because it's very therapeutic for me, and I, within myself, am a voice for the voiceless. I'm big on mental health, so for me just professing spoken word, I feel like it manifests good for humanity.

For me, Prose & Cons comes with artistic expression and it's a representation of freedom. I've always been a huge fan of poetry and spoken work and I've always wanted to be a part of that, so this right here kind of gave me my wings to express that.

It gives me a sense of purpose, you know. It gives me a chance to share my work, because I love writing and I always have. I learn so much from each and every one of these guys with their different styles and expressions and types of poetry, spoken word has been my opening, honestly.

For me, it's like expressing the property of words. Hearing others' truths, where they come from, their backgrounds, expressing my background and where I come from, just coming together collectively to work with this group of guys. I'd work with you all any day, I appreciate all your hard work, and keep up the good work.

Did any of you have experience with poetry or spoken word prior to joining Prose & Cons?

I've written extensively. I write short stories and plays, I dabbled in writing little songs and stuff like that. But something like this? No. This is, even if you were able to attend one of our classes, this is a writer's group of talented men. We have homework assignments every week and we bring them to group the next week, it would blow you away the things that some of these gentlemen come up with in a week's time. This is a really talented group of gentlemen. I've been involved with this since 2018, and when I first joined, I was almost scared to get up and read my little stuff in front of them, because there's some really talented guys that come through here. But through their tutelage and being around them and pick little things up, I've grown as a writer, and I know it's the same for everybody else because I hear the progression in their craft.

Before this class, I wrote back when I was younger, but I never really stuck with it. When I came here, it's like, it gives me an outlet and a voice to voice my opinions, especially with the things I'm dealing with and going through. It's given me that voice to share that in a positive manner because when you hold all of that in, it can manifest and you can either allow it to electrify, or allow it to deteriorate.

For me, I started writing in February after I was sentenced. And I had to do it as a way to rebuild who I thought I was. The opposite of writing is reading, and when you read, you get to live a life of whatever it is you're reading. You could read one thousand lives. In writing, we get to write our lives, and everyone gets to read that too. We get to feel the healing from other members of group, the learning we get from everyone in group, I love this group, I do.

I've been writing for a couple of years now, working on screenplay writing and short stories. I entered a few writing and poetry contests and stuff like that, so that's how I kind of got into it. I came to this prison and bumped into these guys and got into Prose and Cons, but poetry and creative writing has always been the backbone of my foundation while incarcerated, because in a lot of our situations, we've been incarcerated in these confined and condensed cells for years, especially during the pandemic, so when you write, that's a form of therapy. It takes your mind out of prison bars. I also love poetry because there are guys that have their own demons, they don't know how to express that. So when I get up here, I mostly represent or express poetry so I can be a voice for them so they can relate to that.

There's a song called I Wrote My Way Out, and I feel that here, that's what we get an opportunity to do. We get a chance to write our way out.

It really is an escape. We've been working on this production for 3-4 months now, but it seems like it went in like a couple weeks, because there's so much that goes into it, getting input from everybody. It constructs your time different, and you really don't have time to do anything else. The time just goes.

Can you tell me about some of the challenges that come along with being part of this group? How do guys in this group challenge you, and how do you go on to challenge each other?

I've never dealt with rap or other forms of poetry, I'm a Robert Frost person. But I can sit down now, and some of these gentlemen can testify, I can write a little bit of rap. I can be part of the group, and that's one thing that's allowing me to grow. I'm able to be a member of the community, and that's what I like."

I'm still young, I got a little bit of a ways to go in life, thank God. But for me coming into this class, not only this environment being in prison, but I've always had a problem with speaking and other people's opinions about just what men go through on a day-to-day basis. It could be relationship, family problems, whatever, but this class made me more confident about myself and with that, seeing everybody uplift each other, I can actually help my family and be more supportive of them. So that was one thing that drove me down a little bit, but I'm actually starting to open up.

It challenges me to stay focused because for me, if left on my own, I would be in the hole a lot if left to my own will and desire. So Prose and Cons helps me stay focused, it challenges me to be focused all the time. There are at least a couple incidents I wouldn't have let go if I didn't have this show to do. This actually challenges me to stay focused because I don't want to let my brothers down.

I want to elaborate on not letting each other down. Coming into this, it was a lot of pressure for me. I came in on short notice, I didn't want to let these guys down and I appreciate these guys giving me a chance to come in here and articulate words and express it so other people can understand where I come from.

As far as obstacles and things of that nature, there are a lot of things that people want to do within the DOC that kind of get stonewalled. But because this is a positive thing, through the course of time I've been involved with this, the DOC has permitted or advocated for us to do more and more. We perform twice a year at the graduations now, we recently shot a documentary, so there's a lot of things they've given us the leeway to do… And you can tell in the performance that this is genuine.

Accountability has already been mentioned, but I think another element of this group is that we do challenge each other with feedback and ideas. That challenge is a good thing because when you come together, you suddenly discover that someone might have a different perspective than you do that is actually a valid perspective. Maybe I don't agree with what he said, but I can understand where he's coming from. When we share our poems in class and such, you'll find sometimes someone will say something that you never would have conceived of before, that has suddenly opened your world to something new. So I find that to be a really great challenge.

For me personally, it was really hard for me to accept someone else's feedback and tell me that you should do this or you should do that, and pretty much tell you how to tell your own story. But taking everybody's stories and being able to mold them into something and create something, it's a beautiful thing and it was a challenge for us, for everybody to accept that criticism. It allowed us to communicate with each other and build that communication.

For us, we've got to get our truth out there, and that's not easy. As men, we're taught to hide and to be undercover and whatnot. My very first time in class, I cried, and I've been brought to tears at other times. I've had other people come and ask me about me because they wanted to get to know me. So you've got to be honest and get it out there."

Opening for Act 1

Excerpt 1 from Prose & Cons

Excerpt 2 from Prose & Cons

Individual Piece - Prose & Cons​