Vermont Humanities, Writers for Recovery tell Senate Judiciary how prison writing and lullaby programs aid rehabilitation

Montpelier — On Feb. 12 the Vermont Senate Judiciary Committee heard from Christopher Papenelstrup, executive director of Vermont Humanities, and Bess O’Brien, founder of Writers for Recovery and documentary filmmaker, about humanities programming in correctional facilities across the state and how the arts are being used to support people in custody.

Papenelstrup told the committee that Vermont Humanities is the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress and that the legislature’s annual appropriation to arts and humanities organizations makes up a meaningful portion of their operating budgets. “The contribution that is made in the budget is about 17% of our budget,” he said, and added that Vermont Humanities’ largest work is community grant‑making across all 14 counties.

Why it matters: presenters said arts programming can give people in custody tools to process trauma, build social connection and develop habits that support reentry. The discussion centered on Vermont Reads selections placed in correctional facilities, a long-running Writers for Recovery writing curriculum and a Lullaby Project that lets incarcerated parents create songs for children.

Papenelstrup described Vermont Reads, an annual statewide book program the organization supports: the current selection was nominated for national awards and has been distributed much more widely than typical. "Typically, a Vermont Read book just reads about 4,000 copies during the course of a program here. We ran out of 4,000 copies in the first couple of months on this book. So that was pretty exciting. There's now 6,200 copies out in the world," he said, and noted the book’s themes — which include a parent struggling with substance use disorder — are relevant to many people in correctional settings.

Bess O'Brien described the structure and effects of Writers for Recovery, which she said began about 10 years ago and operates in prisons, treatment centers and recovery programs statewide. Workshops typically host 10 to 20 participants and run as weekly 10‑week sessions of about 90 minutes. "It's not about grammar. It's not about spelling. It's about just go with this writing prompt. You only have 7 minutes to write," O'Brien said, describing timed prompts and group sharing that participants often find cathartic and that, she said, can lead to sustained writing and peer‑led groups inside facilities.

O’Brien also described the Lullaby Project, a two‑day collaboration with musicians (identified in testimony as Scribe Mountain Music) that helps incarcerated parents write lullabies for their children. She said one lullaby developed in a women’s facility was later selected by Carnegie Hall for inclusion in a national showcase and that the program produces an annual anthology that includes many pieces by people who were incarcerated.

Funding and scale: presenters said the Department of Corrections provides recurring funding for Writers for Recovery; O’Brien said the program receives a $25,000 allotment from the Department of Corrections and additional support from Vermont Humanities. Both presenters said the work is underfunded relative to demand and that funding limits how long and how frequently workshops can run.

Program history and pandemic interruption: Papenelstrup said Vermont Humanities’ corrections programming dates to the 1980s but largely stopped during the COVID‑19 shutdowns beginning in March 2020. He said staff have been rebuilding relationships with correctional facilities over the last several years and that Vermont Humanities will provide the committee with a tailored version of an internal evaluation documenting recent work in correctional settings.

Participant impacts and evaluation: Papenelstrup quoted an evaluation in which a participant said that attending a Writers for Recovery workshop was “the first time that I forgot who was in prison,” and O’Brien described many participants continuing to write after release and running peer workshops on their own. Presenters also noted that many people in facilities have lived experience with substance use disorder and that the book chosen for Vermont Reads addresses those experiences, making it particularly resonant for book discussions inside facilities.

Next steps and materials: Papenelstrup said Vermont Humanities will prepare a version of its corrections evaluation for the committee and that the organizations would share books and links to recorded presentations. No committee action or vote was recorded during the presentation.