Each year, PEP students at Wallkill Correctional Facility have the opportunity to enroll in a year-long creative writing course taught by instructor Allyson Paty from the NYU Gallatin Undergraduate Writing Program. In the course, students explore styles of writing and editing, and design a publication together.
This latest publication was created through correspondence, thus taking over a year to produce. Instructor Allyson Paty writes: "The tradition of workshop, where students come together to read and respond to one another's writing, was lost in the pandemic. In the spring and summer of 2020, the creative writing course at NYU PEP continued through correspondence. The writing in Missives, including poetry, essays, memoirs, and fiction, is a record of that time in words sent outward, across and against the circumstances of separation."
NYU’s Prison Education Program, part of the Arts & Science Humanities division, is a multi-partner, cross-University initiative that offers free college courses to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated students. With a liberal arts curriculum that draws from NYU’s world-class faculty and staff, the program provides sustained guidance and support to students who want to continue their education after their release.