THE CONFINED ARTS
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OUR RESEARCH MISSION

The Confined Arts Research Team is dedicated to centering the experiences of people impacted by mass incarceration in academic discourse.  Situated at the Center for Justice and the Center for Institutional and Social Change at Columbia University, TCA’s Research Team draws on an interdisciplinary network of researchers and students, while also keeping close ties to formerly and currently incarcerated scholars, artists and community members. People who have personal experience with incarceration are involved in every stage of TCA’s research design, implementation and analysis. This dual perspective into both scientific and experiential expertise uniquely positions TCA to conduct rigorous and community-informed research. TCA aims not only to generate knowledge, but to create change by including the voices and perspectives of people who have suffered from an unjust “justice” system. 

TCA’s research focuses on the following areas:

Language and Dehumanization
In the summer of 2019, TCA organized and ran the Center for Justice’s Inaugural Justice Conference: The Power of Language to Incarcerate. This event brought together artists, lawyers, social workers, religious leaders, researchers and other professionals to discuss how the labels we use in our day to day life can serve to dehumanize and damage. This conference included TCA original research on how incarcerated people are portrayed and described in popular crime shows, as well TCA original research on how popular labels influence how people dehumanize certain populations, including incarcerated people, homeless people, police officers and more.

The Trauma of Incarceration
In the summer of 2020, TCA hosted a town hall series on Post Traumatic Prison Disorder in partnership with Silent Cry. TCA’s Research Team consolidated relevant public health, neuroscience and psychology research into a presentation to provide a scientific framing to each town hall. 

In spring 2020, TCA conducted an in-depth interview study called the Social Dynamics of Prison (SDP) Study, with people who served time in New York State for a felony offense. TCA is working through hours of interview data to produce reports on the psychological impact of incarceration at various stages in the criminal justice system, the social structure of prison life and other topics. 

​OUR methods

The research conducted through The Confined Arts aspires to uphold the following tenets:
  • Community- centered: directly useful to impacted individuals and their communities, policy makers, academic institutions, nonprofits and beyond
  • Continuous Iteration: evolves to meet the needs of the community and developments in research methodology
  • Excellence in Research: rigorous, valid, reliable, statistically significant with the highest ethical standards and professional best practices
  • Qualitative and quantitative
  • Interdisciplinary: considers context of multiple institutions, disciplines and professions 

© 2020 THE CONFINED ARTS

The images, pictures, videos, and text on this website are copyrighted and may not be downloaded or reproduced. These materials may be used only for Educational Purposes. They include extracts of copyright works copied under copyright licences. You may not copy or distribute any part of this material to any other person. Where the material is provided to you in electronic format you may download or print from it for your own use, but not for redistribution. You may not download or make a further copy for any other purpose. Failure to comply with the terms of this warning may expose you to legal action for copyright infringement and/or disciplinary action.
The Confined Arts Program located at Columbia University is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non‐profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of THE CONFINED ARTS must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” and are tax‐deductible to the extent permitted by law
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PROJECTS

Open Call for Clemency
Viral Monologues
From the Inside Out

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© COPYRIGHT 2020. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Who We Are
    • OUR MISSION
    • OUR TEAM
    • OUR PARTNERS
    • Contact US
  • HOW WE WORK
    • ART AS ADVOCACY
    • COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH
    • Capacity Building
  • WHAT WE DO
    • EVENTS >
      • LANGUAGE CONFERENCE
      • Post Traumatic Prison Disorder Town Hall
    • Exhibitions >
      • Open Call for Clemency
      • Reclaiming the Narrative
      • Women in Prison
      • Film & Media
    • RESEARCH >
      • Social Dynamics of Prison
      • Language of Dehumanization Project
    • Storytelling Projects >
      • The Viral Monologues
      • 132 Calls
  • News & Events
    • EVENTS CALENDAR
    • Criminal Justice News
    • TCA Opinions
    • Resources
  • DONATE AND SUPPORT
  • Get Involved