Participants received 18-inch paper maché winged-heart sculptures, handmade by community volunteers. They were encouraged to explore their personal stories through artistic expression, including painting, writing, poetry, and song. The program facilitated an exploration of symbols, dreams, colors, and words to express their past, present, and future aspirations. The women designed and painted the winged hearts and some also recorded themselves reading excerpts from their workshop writings that accompanied the creation of their hearts. The resulting artworks from these workshops are now showcased in the exhibition Visions of Hope. Many participants noted feeling a rare sense of "peace" during the workshops.

Throughout the workshops, participants reflected on what led them to their current situation and identified what they needed for healing. The iconography of the winged heart provided a framework for this process of reflection, expression, and healing. Many participants described feeling a unique sense of "peace" during the workshops.

The group of incarcerated women at Chowchilla State Prison exhibited a diverse range of energies and personalities during the heart-making sessions—some were shy and quiet, while others were energetic, vigorous, and candid. Despite these differences, all participants shared a desire to create art and tell their stories.

Life On Art

The Transformative Justice Center and Empathy in Action

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)

CDCR and the California Model—a New Vision for IncarcerationThe Marin County Civic Center

Frank Lloyd Wright and the Marin County Civic Center

Marin County Public Works Disability Access

Did you know? The Incarcerated Heart is available for use at your event or demonstration, or for display at your location. This magnificent 11-feet tall heart can be used as a powerful stage background for events and protests, and is also available to tour. To inquire, contact Life On Art at heartmaking@LifeOnArt.org.

To learn more about the rights of the incarcerated and how to help locally, see www.newest.prisons.org.

The participants were gifted 18-inch paper maché winged-heart sculptures, hand made by community volunteers. The men were invited to write about elements of their life story and to share them with the group. We explored the symbols, dreams, colors and words that express who they were, who they are and their hopes for the future. The men designed and painted the winged hearts, and some also recorded themselves reading selections of their workshop writings that accompanied the creation of hearts.

In the workshops, we engaged the men to consider what may have brought them to where they are now, and what they each need to heal. Using the iconography of the winged heart, the program offered them the space and time for reflection, expression and healing.

Description of personal reasons as to why you went into this work; about developing your efforts to work with incarcerated men; why these 7 men?; your team; 

Jen to provide content

This could be where Jen adds general information about advocacy efforts for the People’s Commission, California, nationwide, etc.

Working with multidisciplinary experts, and building on international best practices and principles, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is implementing the “California Model.” The goal? Building safer communities through rehabilitation, education, restorative justice and reentry.

Important to developing the California Model was research on the model used in Norway. The CDCR partnered with the Amend program at the University of California, San Francisco, to send leaders to Norway to learn how their approach to normalcy in corrections and rehabilitation is lowering recidivism and expanding employee wellness. 

The intent of the penal system in Norway is solely the restriction of liberty; no other rights are taken away. An incarcerated individual in prison has the same rights as an ordinary citizen, including the right to vote. Prison authorities try to place offenders in the lowest security regime commensurate with the inmate's needs.

While the Norway and California models are very different, the core of each is the same—when we treat one another with respect, our environment will change for the better.

Chowchilla State Prison, where Life On Art held its workshops, is committed to the California Model, showcasing a commitment to rehabilitation, positive experiences, and transformative change throughout the prison. The collaborative efforts of staff and incarcerated people reflect a profound dedication to public safety and successful reentry, capturing the essence of the California Model

“We are willing to connect with the population and the staff are willing to walk through the transformation.”

                                                                — Lieutenant Monique Williams

                Public Information Officer, Central California Women’s Facility

Early in the state’s implementation of this new model, there are signs that the new approach has lowered staff assaults and reduced resident complaints and disciplinary actions; the incarcerated are responding to less punitive methods.

In its model, that state of California uses Four Pillars to transform how criminal justice is applied:

1. Dynamic Security—to develop positive respectful relationships between staff and the incarcerated.

2. Normalization—to bring life in prison as close as possible to life outside of prison (making it easier for people to transition to life outside)

3. Peer mentorship—to train incarcerated individuals to use their lived experiences to mentor and support their peers

4. Becoming a Trauma-Informed Organization—to educate staff at all levels to recognize the impacts of trauma and ensure the physical and emotional safety of all staff and incarcerated individuals

Helping guide this movement are the Amend program at the University of California, San Francisco, and the Amity Foundation. 

The Amend program is a public health and human rights program that works in prisons to reduce their debilitating health effects on residents and staff, while also joining policy makers and community leaders to advance decarceration strategies and a better, new system of accountability and healing in the US. 

The Amity Foundation is dedicated to the inclusion and habilitation of people marginalized by addiction, trauma, criminality, incarceration, poverty, racism, sexism, homelessness and violence. Its In-Prison Treatment Readiness methods help prepare incarcerated individuals for reintegration into communities. They consider how our interactions with each other can compound our traumas, and attempt to change the lens through which we look at the world and interact with each other and our families. They look at the incarcerated through the lens of ‘what happened to you?’ rather than ‘what’s wrong with you?’

Place CCWF video link here?

Life On Art creates spaces for meaningful conversations and creative expression focused on healing from systemic and personal trauma. Our collective artmaking projects and installations build purpose, empathy, joy, and pathways to healing and change for participants and visitors. 

Together, we can leverage our collective creativity to find innovative solutions to intractable problems.

About Life On Art

We unite people in creative purpose to build large-scale community art installations and public art. We strive to democratize art and to make the transformational healing power of art widely available, especially to those most impacted by systemic injustices. We build bridges of empathy between the public and populations that often feel unseen and forgotten. Through community building and artistic activism, we advocate for human rights and systemic change.

We invite communities impacted by systemic injustices to art workshops where they learn artistic techniques, explore and share their stories, and build components of large-scale artworks. These programs foster a sense of belonging, self-expression, hope and purpose.Together with our volunteers, we provide workshops for schools, the public, and those in the caring professions. Life On Art works in California state psychiatric hospitals and correctional facilities, with at-promise youth and, with veterans, and we partner with other nonprofits to serve severely trauma-impacted people. 

UNITE ● CREATE ● HEAL

More than 225 men and women participated in creating art for this exhibition. Most of those who participated in art workshops are incarcerated in either Soledad State Prison or Chowchilla State Prison.

These organizations collaborated to produce Visions of Hope:

• Life On Art, which fosters the healing of trauma through artmaking;

• The People’s Commission for Integrity in Criminal Justice, which is dedicated to correcting systemic failures in the criminal justice system; and

• Empathy in Action, which brings incarcerated and non-incarcerated people together for transformative and profound dialogue.

Incarcerated Lives Matter.

This installation showcases the creativity, resilience, and humanity of those living in California correctional facilities. Our goal is that it can serve to spark discussion of needed reforms in the criminal justice system.Text and images with basic visitor information and resources. 

The Bloomberg Connects app is a free digital guide that takes you deeper into the world of Life On Art’s exhibitions and programs. We hope you’ll be inspired and moved by the layers of images, photos, stories, voices, and poetry. Even if you are unable to visit our exhibitions, the Bloomberg Connects app is the next best thing to being there. 

Once you start the guide, scroll vertically through the four sections—About Life On Art, Currently On View, Upcoming Exhibitions, and Support Our Work. 

Then, in each of these sections, scroll horizontally to go deeper into artwork, artists’ photos and biographies, audio recordings, written works, and additional information.

Use it, share it, and enjoy!

Life On Art created The Incarcerated Heart in service to the rights of the incarcerated for a protest at the gates of San Quentin Prison (October 2020). Covid was spreading unchecked through the prison system due to state negligence. The incarcerated heart is a power

The protest was in collaboration with California Prison Focus (a human and civil rights group that investigates conditions in California prisons) and No Justice Under Capitalism (a coalition formed to address the state's criminal negligence in the spread of Covid-19 in California prisons). The Incarcerated Heart—9-feet wide and 11-feet tall—was surrounded by 68 other winged hearts in tribute to the then 69 lives lost to Covid in the California prison system.

At the end of the rally—in a deeply moving public ritual of mourning and solidarity—participants raised winged hearts at the prison gates in honor of the lives lost and those still struggling behind bars.

As of August 15, 2024, there were 263 deaths from Covid and 96,702 Covid cases in California state prisons. 

Part of the workshops held at both Soledad State Prison and Chowchilla State Prison was the making of individual “feathers” by each participant. These feathers—### total and each #” long—make up the wings of two 9-feet wide hearts, one for each of the prisons. 

The body of the heart was created using paint chips from leftover paint containers used by the participants. Life On Art volunteers helped separate the hundreds of paint chips by color, curated the feathers into wings and prepared the hearts and wings for assembly. 

We estimate that ### people collaborated to create these two hearts, symbolizing the community necessary to create hope and resilience in the criminal justice system.

This sculpture was built for a largely forgotten population, the patients in one of California’s largest state psychiatric facilities, the Department of State Hospitals—Napa.  As the hearts fly through the hall, they expand in size from nine inches wide to nine feet wide, reflecting the possibility of healing from trauma and living free and unbound.

The making of Unbound involved 500 psychiatric patients, 200 staff and more than 800 community volunteers—all coming together to create this work of wonder to foster belonging and to destigmatize mental illness. In addition to painting, 70 therapists of DHS—Napa’s rehabilitation therapy department worked with their patients in music, movement, drumming, and spoken word.

Visit the Unbound installation this fall at Life on Art Studio

The CTF is a Level I and II General Population prison consisting of three separate facilities, each with an independent dining room, clothing distribution, canteen, medical/dental/mental health services, education, library, chapel, and visiting rooms. Level I facilities consist primarily of open dormitories with a low security perimeter, and Level II facilities consist primarily of open dormitories with a secure perimeter, which may include armed coverage.

Soledad State Prison opened in 1947 as a minimum-medium security facility, housing 600 inmates in war surplus army barracks. Early on, the prison was associated with San Quentin as a farming camp. Additional facilities and capacity have been added over the years. As well, CTF has shifted its focus on the populations being incarcerated, expanding to include housing young adult offenders, and separating older, more problematic Youth Authority Wards from the younger Wards.

In 1968, Soledad State Prison changed its name to the Correctional Training Facility due to the extensive educational and vocational training available to the inmate population.

At that time, the facility’s total population was 3,400; in March 2012, it was 5,684; in July 2022, it was 4,761; and as of March 2024, it was 4,044.

The Incarcerated Heart welcomes viewers to write their wishes and hopes for the world and insert those comments into the back of the heart.

Derek is represented by the People Commission for Integrity in Criminal Justice and he has submitted over 11 petitions and appeals to prove his innocence since 2007, including over 4 motions for DNA testing.  His final petition to the California State Supreme Court, filed after an evidentiary hearing, was denied on February 16, 2022. Subsequent requests to file in the federal court were denied in 2023. Now, the only recourse left to Derek is clemency by the governor.

Derek completed this series of paintings about his journey over a period of 6 months. Derek describes his art process: 

Art is very therapeutic; it is a therapeutic release for emotions you may not have thought of or felt in a while.  So when you actually have a theme and you are painting it out so you are getting that release of those emotions that held onto that you may not have known were there still. 

Derek Martinez is currently residing at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, CA.

At the age of eleven. Guzman describes the choices he faced shortly after moving to the United States as a decision between “being a victim or a gangster.” He reflects on his U.S. education: “I learned all about racism, I learned how to fight, I learned about being an outcast, I learned that fear, insecurity, anger and helplessness were common events even outside of the family structure.”

The circumstances leading to Guzman’s conviction occurred in 2010 when he was just nineteen years old. On December 24, 2010, what began as a routine drug transaction turned into a nightmare.

Guzman was with his friend Castro when they decided to order some marijuana from a dealer named Jackson. When Jackson arrived at Guzman’s residence, a confrontation erupted between Castro and Jackson because Castro owed Jackson money from a previous transaction. During this confrontation, Jackson shot Castro in the leg. Jackson was tried and convicted shortly after the shooting.

Approximately one year after Jackson’s conviction, Guzman was prosecuted as an accomplice under the natural and probable consequences theory, based on a gang allegation, which permits the state to treat an accomplice as a principal. The arresting officer, who served as the state’s primary witness and gang expert, testified alongside another officer from the Rampart Division. Guzman was convicted largely based on this officer testimony and sentenced to life in prison plus twenty-five years for gang and gun enhancements, despite the lack of corroborating evidence and the fact that he was not armed and did not shoot anyone.

Guzman is now committed to personal transformation and helping others:

I’m aware of the damage that was done not only to me but to thousands of other people just like me. Now I am empathetic and I understand people when they are going through some issues and I try to be of assistance and share with them what I have learned along the journey.  Now I’m grateful for even though it was a dark dark place and it was dark what I went through, I survived all of that and I am grateful that I am where I am now.  Now that I have learned to understand my emotions and I am currently learning to express them and project them within myself and other people there are ample opportunities to help others and try to help them understand them because they might be where I was once and I wish I could have had the help that I will be able to provide for them. 

Guzman reflects that he was “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” and was convicted with police officer testimony under the natural and probable consequences theory - a theory that is no longer legally viable in murder prosecutions. Guzman was convicted in the Antelope Valley Courthouse - a region that has a long history of racially discriminatory law enforcement and deputy gangs. Ultimately, the Federal Department of Justice investigated the Lancaster and Antelope Valley area police departments in 2013 for allegations of racial biased policing and related civil rights violations and came to a settlement to address the widespread civil rights violations committed by law enforcement in 2015. 

Guzman has been incarcerated for 13 years, serving a life sentence for a crime that he never imagined, nor committed.  Guzman is now represented by the People’s Commission for Integrity in Criminal Justice who are fighting his wrongful conviction, citing racial bias as a main factor in his conviction.

Darrick Booker is a resident of the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, CA.  He is represented by the People’s Commission for Integrity in Criminal Justice for a wrongful conviction case. Darrick was convicted under the Shaken Baby Syndrome theory, where the prosecution presented a highly contested medical theory in lieu of physical or circumstantial evidence. Darrick recently was granted access and review of the forensic evidence in his case, and the expert witness medical examiner has provided him with an alternate report, contesting the Shaken Baby Syndrome theory and analysis relied upon for conviction. Darrick has now served 20 years in 25 years-to-life sentence.

I am an artist. My artwork, that is, my ability to express my “artistic viewpoints,” is one of the things that makes me feel different from the majority of people. These abilities have been one of my greatest sources of pride. There are only a few of my poems and paintings in this exhibition, but I hope you'll find them pleasing.

When I think about my future, however, my greatest source of pride is to come from something else. Should my lawyer Jen. Sheetz managed to secure my release, she's asked me to work alongside her in her quest for criminal justice reform. Though art will always maintain a prominent role in my life, that advocacy will be a much better reason for the contemplation of my life.

JJ Nucio has served 17 years in prison of a 25 year to life sentence for a crime that he claims all of the evidence shows that he did not commit. The ​​People’s Commission for Integrity in Criminal Justice who is representing his innocence case confirms that there was no physical or circumstantial evidence tying Nuccio to the murder and that material evidence from the murder weapon that would point to the actual murderer and exonerate Nuccio has been mysteriously missing since 2007, the year he was tried in a cold case prosecution. Since his post-conviction discovery, he has been repeatedly prevented from getting access to the original DNA evidence from the murder scene despite his legal right to the evidence. JJ remains in a precarious position with all judges in the county having recused themselves from his case, and no alternate tribunal available to order access to the evidence and a provide fair hearing with this abundant evidence that would exonerate him that was discovered in 2022 and 2023.

on 08/19/1984. Some of you may know me as county jail inmate 3418765 or state prisoner BB6133. But that’s not my whole story - it's just a scene within my story.  See, I have been wrongfully convicted of child homicide at the infamous and racially notorious Michael Antonovich Antelope Valley Courthouse (Lancaster court) in Northern Los Angeles (about 75 miles north). Where they spit out rapid-fire sentencing numbers like an auctioneer does. The theories of death? Shaken Baby Syndrome (known now as Junk Science) and blunt force head trauma. The sentence? 25 years-to-life. For the very first criminal offense with a myriad of mishaps along the way. My incarceration comes as surprising to some since being raised in the gang infested and crime induced District of Watts (which is East of South Central Los Angeles). The stigma is that I am a gang member, felon, or a goon. 

I am neither. On the other hand, this makes my story such an anomaly. I have always defeated the odds to rise to the occasion. My situation is such a rare one that most people who get to know me or know me can both empathize and sympathize with me to the point of not seeing me as a number anymore or seeing me as the black ink on the white paper. I am a human being trapped in a systemic and systematic culture of tough on crime and less on rehabilitation or treatment. Therefore, I will not let this unfortunate and tragic situation define me or my future. Because I have a story to tell. And once I am free from the chains of injustice. I plan on letting my freedom song ring. ...

Markese Clark is the proud father of two girls, aged 15 and 13.  He has served 8 years of a 25 to life sentence for a crime which is under current appeal as a wrongful conviction led by the People’s Commission for Integrity in Criminal Justice. Director of the Commission, Jen Sheetz, strongly believes that this case would have been dismissed had there been a police investigation without racial bias and a proper medical examination which included pre-existing conditions and medical reports that were filed before Clark joined the family. Instead, Clark was arrested without corroborating physical evidence and prosecuted under the Shaken Baby Syndrome theory.

Clark was arrested after a child in his care became listless, showed signs of the flu, and became unresponsive. When the child became unresponsive, Clark called 911 and requested medical help. Despite lack of any signs of external trauma or signs of any conflict at the residence, Clark was arrested by arriving officers from the Lancaster Police Department. The Lancaster and Antelope Valley Police Departments have a documented long history of racially biased policing and investigation. Clark claims that his conviction is the result of racially biased policing, combined with the highly controversial Shaken Baby Syndrome theory of prosecution, which despite the absence of external injuries, prosecutes based on internal injuries and does not require evidence of a person’s actual acts leading to these injuries. 

Paul Denham was sentenced to life without parole in 1998 for attempted murder and murder, despite him having a concrete alibi and being several hundred miles away at the time of the murder, as well as the physical and circumstantial evidence excluding him from the scene.  Paul has spent the past three decades trying to access justice. According to the People’s Commission for Integrity in Criminal Justice, his experience highlights the basic lack of access to the courts that most wrongfully convicted individuals face - particularly in constitutional deserts like Long Beach. 

After securing new, exonerating evidence in 2015, Paul compiled significant evidence in support of his innocence, including corroborated evidence of police misconduct and filed a habeas corpus petition in Long Beach in 2018, with Judge Laesecke. His lawyer shared that by California law, Judge Laesecke had 60 days to render a decision or request additional briefing. According to Paul and his lawyer, Judge Laesecke did neither, and she has failed to provide any response that is recognized under the law for the past 6 years. They shared that Judge Laesecke has denied repeated requests to transfer the case to the central Writs Unit at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse. Paul said he has repeatedly filed writs of mandate to force a decision. Instead, they say Judge Laesecke has “suspended” the proceedings, a category that is not recognized under California law. 

Paul Denham’s case has been suspended in motion, unable to move forward since 2018.  He is now represented by the People’s Commission for Integrity in Criminal Justice and his case is the subject of an upcoming British documentary on ITN’s ITV channel. 

Chuck Murdoch was found guilty of murder in 1995 in a cold-case prosecution, begun over 12 years after the fact–without any physical evidence tying him to the crime, based solely upon statements by two unreliable witnesses that completely contradict all evidence from the initial investigation.  The People’s Commission for Integrity in Criminal Justice is leading his innocence case and challenging his life without parole plus one year sentence.

His lawyer Jen Sheetz writes in the afterward to his book: 

Chuck maintains his innocence as he has done for three decades now. As noted in Ninth Circuit Chief Justice Kozinski’s dissent almost 15 years ago, the government’s careful coordination between law enforcement, the prosecution and the judiciary restricted the jury’s review to unreliable and mostly false evidence.  This is the mendacious house of cards that the government built his conviction upon. Now, 30 years on, Chuck is still trying to knock it down.

As a post-conviction criminal defense attorney, I have intimately understood arbitrariness. Over the past two decades, in my post-conviction practice throughout the state of California – from San Diego to Shasta – I have come to understand that your zip code fundamentally dictates your access to the constitution and its protections. This is a principle that is not as apparent as the racial, ethnic and class-based constitutional disparities. And, as one might imagine, it exacerbates those disparities. The limited access to constitutional protections deprives individuals of liberty in a very arbitrary manner. I have always seen this elsewhere, in other parts of the country. I saw it in places like Ada, Oklahoma, throughout Louisiana, Texas, etc. As someone who claimed to be Californian, I initially resisted seeing the systemic injustice in California. Two decades later, I am extremely familiar with the constitutional deserts in California. Truly.

While the details of these men’s cases vary, all are trapped in the failures of a criminal justice system that allows for innocent people to be convicted in the courts and silenced without redress. It is a systemic failure of checks and balances in California that creates what Sheetz terms “constitutional deserts,” where truth is trapped in a closed feedback loop. If a wrongful conviction hinges on government misconduct, how can it be expected that this person would obtain a fair appeal process in the very courthouse or district where the misconduct occurred? 

For all seven of these men, art is a lifeline providing relief in dire circumstances. We trust you will be inspired by this rare glimpse into truly extraordinary stories and art and that this installation will inspire you to take action to address this structural tragedy affecting thousands in the California criminal justice system. Visions of Hope highlights the critical need for providing creative arts for rehabilitation in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.