Oscar Wilde redefined the relationship between Life and Art, and attempted to live in the style of the characters in his works: pursuing Beauty. His view of Life as imitating Art played a crucial role in his definition of Individualism. In his works, he explored how one develops one's personality and Individuality, and society's role in suppressing the Individual. He firmly believed that Life and ugliness were inextricably intertwined, and that society's moral structure was to blame. Popular in his time as an artist, he made it a point in his writing and in his work to stand apart from society. Ultimately, society cast him out; while in prison, he experienced an aspect of Life that he had been avoiding his entire life as an aesthete, and thus altered and expanded his ideal of the Individual. In falling from grace and in being forced to live in the ugliest of realities, he developed a fuller idea of what it means to live beautifully.

Revictimization, defined as victimization occurring at different points in time, has been found repeatedly in college, community, and clinical samples. Attempts to understand this relation have been theoretically and methodologically limited. Theoretically, most studies have considered only individual level characteristics such as personality traits, and methodologically, the variety of definitions and measures used makes comparisons difficult. This study investigated the effect of homelessness, an exosystem factor, as a moderator of the revictimization relation in a sample of 370 underserved women (191 in prison and 179 seeking healthcare at an urban, public hospital). A series of logistic regressions were conducted to predict adult physical and adult sexual victimization using four different definitions of child sexual abuse and one definition of child physical abuse. Main effects for child abuse, regardless of the definition used, incarceration status and homelessness on both adult physical and adult sexual victimization were consistently found. However, homelessness did not moderate the revictimization relation. The high reported rate of adult physical victimization may have prevented finding an interaction effect, as almost 82% of women reported this experience. Findings underscore the multitude of traumas experienced by this population and the need for primary prevention of child abuse and homelessness.

The growth in the number of black women in the prison system necessitates more research become rooted in an intersectional approach. This quantitative study will empirically apply intersectionality to address the unique circumstances of imprisoned black women by comparing and analyzing sentence convictions shared between black and white incarcerated women in Georgia. Drawing on 600 inmate profiles published by Georgia Department of Corrections, this study will address the statistical significance of race, class and gender on the length of sentence for incarcerated white and black women using regression models.

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Criminalized women are a segregated population in society due to their few numbers and it has only been recently that the correctional system has responded to their gender-related needs and has orchestrated programs and services to rehabilitate them for society. Many criminalized women are mothers. Many criminalized women are Aboriginal. Many criminalized women have no safe place to go after release from prison. It is here that this practicum intervenes by offering transitional housing for a woman released from a correctional institution, reuniting with her children, and hoping to succeed and sustain herself and her family. By designing a therapeutic landscape that offers play, solace, and community, the bond between a mother and child can strengthen, many of the needs of a woman can be met, and the development of a peer group of neighbours can identify, support, encourage, and share their own personal experience, during this time of transition.

Criminalized women are a segregated population in society due to their few numbers and it has only been recently that the correctional system has responded to their gender-related needs and has orchestrated programs and services to rehabilitate them for society. Many criminalized women are mothers. Many criminalized women are Aboriginal. Many criminalized women have no safe place to go after release from prison. It is here that this practicum intervenes by offering transitional housing for a woman released from a correctional institution, reuniting with her children, and hoping to succeed and sustain herself and her family. By designing a therapeutic landscape that offers play, solace, and community, the bond between a mother and child can strengthen, many of the needs of a woman can be met, and the development of a peer group of neighbours can identify, support, encourage, and share their own personal experience, during this time of transition.

This thesis document is a presentation of the process and production of my play, 800 Days of Solitude: A Conjuring, which was presented in the Moe Theater Lab March 22 through 25 2018. This play endeavored to tell the story of a young man who was wrongfully imprisoned, and then forced into solitary confinement. Chapter 1 contains a detailed account of the pre-writing process, including early inspirations, impressions of what the play might be, and character bios. Chapter 2 is a narrative account of the writing of 800 Days of Solitude: A Conjuring, along with key inspirations and how I used them to shape the text. Chapter 3 recounts the pre-production process, including production meetings with the director and design team, the process of auditions, and rehearsals. Chapter 4 discusses the production of 800 Days of Solitude: A Conjuring. Chapter 5 is the Conclusion, wherein I reflect on my time before SIU, as well as my time here. I then revisit my goals and weigh in on whether I achieved them. Then I speculate on what the future may bring. This is followed by the Works Cited. Appendix A contains the production script of 800 Days of Solitude: A Conjuring, followed by a gloss of terms. Appendix B contains an early draft of 800 Days of Solitude: A Conjuring.

The criminal justice system in the United States was not created to treat mentally ill people. Despite this fact, the number of seriously mentally ill people in prisons and jails now exceeds the number in state psychiatric hospitals by tenfold. At the same time, the epidemic of mass incarceration in the United States has become one of the most pressing economic and social problems our country has faced in the last three decades. One novel approach to reducing prison populations and lowering costs to taxpayers has been justice reinvestment. However, for justice reinvestment to meet its ultimate goal of reducing incarceration rates, saving tax payer dollars, and creating safer communities, the JRI must begin to focus more attention and resources on how to better address the unique needs of the mentally ill in the criminal justice system.

abstract: ABSTRACT Much attention has been given to food justice in both academic and activist communities as of late. This project adds to the growing discourse around food justice by using creative works produced by members of the black community as case studies to analyze the relationship between food justice and the criminal justice system in their neighborhoods. In particular, this project examines two unique sources of creative expression from the black community. The first is the novel Been ‘Bout Dat, the story of a young boy Fattz, who is born into the projects of New Orleans and takes to street life in order to provide for his siblings and struggling single mother. Written in prison by Johnny Davis it offers a valuable perspective that is combined with historical context and statistical support to construct an understanding of how concepts of food and criminal justice influence each other. The second source is the lyrical content of several hip-hop songs from rappers such as Tupac Shakur, Mos Def, Nas, and Young Jeezy. Comparing the content of these works and the lived realities expressed in both brings new and useful insights about food justice and criminal justice as experienced in poor minority communities. Recognizing this relationship may illuminate solutions to food justice issues through criminal justice reform as well as inform fresh efforts at community renewal. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis History 2017

abstract: Guantánamo: The Amen Temple of Empire connects the fetishization of the trauma of nine/eleven with the co-constitution of subjects at Guantánamo—that of the contained Muslim terrorist prisoner silhouetted against the ideal nationalistic military body—circulated as ‘afterimages’ that carry ideological narratives about U.S. Empire. These narratives in turn religiously and racially charge the new normative practices of the security state and its historically haunted symbolic order. As individuals with complex subjectivities, the prisoners and guards are, of course, not reducible to the standardizing imprimatur of the state or its narratives. Despite the circulation of these ‘afterimages’ as fixed currency, the prisoners and guards produce their own metanarratives, through their para-ethnographic accounts of containment and of self. From within the panopticon of the prison, they seek sight lines, and gaze back at the state. This dissertation is thus a meditation on US militarism, violence, torture, race, and carceral practices, revealed thematically through metaphors of hungry ghosts, nature, journey and death, liminality, time, space, community, and salvage. Based on a multi-sited, empirical and imaginary ethnography, as well as textual and discourse analysis, I draw on the writing and testimony of prisoners, and military and intelligence personnel, whom I consider insightful para-ethnographers of the haunting valence of this fetishized historical event. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Religious Studies 2018