Dear Friends,
During the months he has spent in jail (which will soon come to an end) our Director Dennis Sobin has completed the second book he set out to write at the beginning of his incarceration. Dennis was incarcerated for going to D.C. City Hall (by invitation) to testify at a public hearing in defiance of an unconstitutional court order that his son (an Assistant District Attorney General that works in City Hall) had placed against him. The case is in appeal and being reviewed (many thanks to James Butler Esq., the ACLU and the legal team from Georgetown).
The first book Dennis completed in jail is entitled "Outsider Art On The Inside: Understanding and Helping Imprisoned Artists." It is being type-set and prepared for publication and will soon be available at the Prisons Foundation website: (www.prisonsfoundation.org).
Dennis' second book, "From Prison to the Kennedy Center: Starting Over at the Top" profiles many individuals and organizations. Dennis also discusses encounters with the legal system and notable activists, artists, convicts and individuals he has met over the last forty years of his activism including: Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and ex prisoner philanthropist Lloyd S. Rubin among many others. Below are the final paragraphs from this book:
Midway through the 66th year of my life, while still in jail, a dream came true when I was visited and interviewed by a feature writer for the prominent national Music magazine "Spin." Many established artists would kill to get into this popular and influential publication, much less go to jail for it.
After writer David Peisner and I discussed my musical and Foundation goals and accomplishments, I mentioned my political plans. David asked, "Do you think you'd have much of a chance of making an impact since you don't have clean hands?" David knows about the false allegations and relentless persecution in Florida that earlier resulted in ten years of imprisonment, and the tricks my son and sister pulled to re-incarcerate me on my return (after asking them for an accounting of my inheritance and personal savings).
I answered, "To me, clean hands are empty hands.....mine are experienced hands." David already knew they were musical ones, having listened to my numerous CD's that I had recorded both inside and outside the underbelly of society: prison.
About that underbelly, our political leaders would do well to spend some time there. Perhaps not a lengthy amount as I have done, but at least some period. They would then see the results of the mindless laws, mistake-prone judges and socially insulated and politically motivated members of the establishment's "lock em up" crowd. And they would understand the words of the sad but wise ex con I met in 1965 that helped shape my life: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." -Martin Luther King Jr. "Letter from Birmingham jail."
Yours for justice,
Dennis Sobin
#206757
C.T.F. D-3B #10
1901 E Street SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
A CALL FOR SUPPORT: The Prisons Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC that promotes the arts and education in prison and alternatives to incarceration. We are now accepting tax deductable donations. The support of our supporters, quite bluntly, is what keeps us going. Please consider making a tax deductible donation to the Prisons Foundation so that we may continue to promote the arts in prison and help encourage the wonderful atistic talent we cultivate everyday:
*Note the views in this letter are those of Dennis Sobin. Please send your comments directly to him
