Ban Ends Far More Than Prisoners' Art Sales

By Anthony Papa

Anthony Papa is an artist and activist who served 12 years of a 15-year-to-life sentence under the Rockefeller drug laws.

[editor's note- See also Anthony Papa's Drugwar.com Interview]

May 16, 2002

New York State Corrections Commissioner Glenn Goord, by banning the sale of art by prisoners, has effectively canceled artistic expression in the New York State prison system.

He has also eliminated the annual "Corrections on Canvas" art exhibit, which was created by the State Senate and the Department of Corrections in 1967.

By doing this, Goord has erased a strong tradition that made life more meaningful in New York's gulags.

For the last 35 years, prisoners in New York State had been allowed to exhibit their art once a year in the legislative office building in Albany. The art was sold, and 50 percent of the profits were donated to the Crime Victims Board, an organization that provides services for crime victims, including financial compensation related to their victimization.

But controversy surrounded last year's show, which included paintings and sketches by serial killer Arthur Shawcross. The political process went into overkill, as officials tried to look tough on crime. Because of one individual, 67,000 prisoners were punished.

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