Individuals Affected by Incarceration and the Legal System in Maine: a UMF and Colby College Collaborative Archive
From My Maine Stories
December 18, 2023
Lucky Mourredes, Contributing Writer
Despite the popularity of shows involving the legal system, such as “Orange is the New Black,” the experiences of system-impacted individuals are not fully reflective of these narratives.
The Freedom and Captivity Archive project aims to partner students from the University of Maine Farmington (UMF) and Colby College with system-impacted individuals to share real-life experiences in Maine’s legal system. A system-impacted individual is a person who has been involved in the criminal justice system, or, the loved one of an involved person. Involvement includes anything from probation to incarceration. There are a few important goals of this project according to Dr. Nicole Kellet, a professor of anthropology at UMF. The first is to give voices to the undocumented stories of incarcerated individuals and those impacted by the process, given there is currently no statewide archive in Maine. The second goal is to connect students to system-impacted individuals on a personal level to break down the divisions in society and dismantle misrepresentations of incarceration in the media.
“I think [life history/memoir] is a really powerful avenue to change people’s hearts and minds about something, especially as misunderstood as incarceration,” Dr. Kelllett said.
The narrative of incarceration created by society and the media often transcends the individual, incorporating stereotypes involving gender and minority groups. “Orange is the New Black” often reflects this, depicting a homogeneous group of female inmates who act, think, and behave in similar ways. In reality, incarcerated individuals are just as unique as the rest of society.
“Also for men, I think they fall into these stereotypes… and that they are overly masculine. From my involvement with other groups in Maine, and some of the men that are a part of these groups, there’s a real sensitivity, poetry, and artwork, of expressing their pain of being system impacted. So I think that oftentimes they [men’s experiences] are not valued or recognized in society, so really bringing that forward with their voices is important,” Dr. Kellet said.
If you want to contribute to this project, contact Matt Matheny (Matt.Matheny@colby.edu) or visit the link (https://www.mainememory.net/mymainestories/topic/freedom-and-captivity) to learn more about how you can share an experience of a system-impacted individual in Maine’s legal system.
