InsideOUT Writers: About Us

Our Mission

Our mission is to reduce juvenile violence, increase respect for others, and enhance the love of learning for incarcerated and at-risk youth, using professional writers to teach creative writing in juvenile detention facilities.

Our History

InsideOUT Writers was established in 1996 and became a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization in 2000. InsideOUT Writers grew out of the vision of a juvenile hall chaplain, Sister Janet Harris; children’s book author and illustrator Karen Hunt; Los Angeles Times journalist Duane Noriyuki, and a few professional writers who volunteered to go into Los Angeles’ Central Juvenile Hall to teach creative writing.

InsideOUT Writers has evolved through the years and the program has grown from three classes a week to more than 28 classes weekly.

Our Program

Our program helps students express their negative feelings through writing rather than through violence. Our teachers, professional writers and educators, work with small groups of students in a mentoring atmosphere, teaching them creative writing and how to use their writings to better understand themselves. As our students’ abilities to express themselves grow, so does their self-confidence, honest introspection and motivation to improve other aspects of their lives.

Once or twice a week the teachers meet with a small group of students living in detention facilities in the Los Angeles area. All the students join the writing groups on a volunteer basis. The atmosphere is free of judgment or competition and students are encouraged to write with clarity and authenticity, not worrying about sophistication or grammar. Before each session ends, students are offered the opportunity to read their work aloud. For many, our program gives them a first-time opportunity to hear their words aloud and see them published.

Our Students

Today, InsideOUT Writers reaches over 300 students a week between the ages of 12 through 18. More than 25 teachers conduct classes in the various facilities weekly.

InsideOUT Writers focuses on the three juvenile halls in Greater Los Angeles: Central Juvenile Hall, Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall and Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall. All of our youth have been arrested within Los Angeles County and detained in these three facilities. In addition, InsideOUT Writers provides classes at Camp Kirby and Youth Correctional Facilities at Chino and Norwalk. Although most of our students grew up in the inner city, Central, South Central, East Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley, we do serve a small percentage of young people from other areas of the state and from out of the state.

Our students are approximately 55% Latino, 35% African American, 5% Asian and 5% other various ethnicities.

Our Results

In a study conducted by the Rand Corporation for the Los Angeles Probation Department, it was shown that InsideOUT Writers’ participants are less violent than the general population of incarcerated youth. It has also been determined by the Probation Department and the teachers within the court school system that IOW helps youth express their negative feelings through writing, rather than through violence, and that IOW students are better prepared to pass their high school exit exams. Participation in the IOW program increases students’ self esteem as well as their attitude toward learning. Approximately 90% of the youth, often a transient population, successfully complete the IOW program.

Not only do the youth recognize the value of the writing program, but the staff at the various juvenile halls recognizes its value as well. Staff has consistently said that the writing program helps ease the young people’s pain and enables them to express it in a positive way rather than through violence in the units.

InsideOUT Writers received the 2002 Award for Excellence in Collaboration with Children, Youth, and Families from the Child Welfare League of America.

Our Publications

As an outgrowth of the writings produced by the students, InsideOUT Writers publishes a periodic magazine that includes student writings and artwork.

Two books, both entitled What We See: Poems and Essays from Inside Juvenile Hall, have been published. The most current book was published in February, 2006. Our publications are distributed to schools, libraries, government agencies, community leaders, juvenile detention facilities and to the general public.