Inmate art breaks out for annual display, sale

Inmate No. 83399 took second and third place for his intricate pencil drawings of an infant and a lighthouse at the Riverfront Community Center last week.

A drawing of a fish, by another U.S. Disciplinary Barrack inmate, took first place. The artwork is judged each year by the Leavenworth County Artists’ Association, then sold. Proceeds go back to the inmates, with 20 percent supporting the River City Community Players, a local theater group. If the item doesn’t sell, it goes back to the inmate. The inmates choose which pieces they would like to sell and set the price, with a limit of $300.
The “Hidden Art Locked Away” sale takes place each February in Leavenworth, with two-dimensional art contributions from the USDB and the U.S. Penitentiary.

Gene Young, founder of the Young Sign Company, and Everett Ward, former Multimedia and Visual Information Services employee, judged this year’s contest. Both are active in the Leavenworth County Artists Association and the Carnegie Arts Center in Leavenworth.

Both men agreed that the drawing of the fish, with detailed sketching, was a good piece of artwork.

“The way it’s drawn, the way that the scales are done, it has almost a mechanical look,” Ward said.

Peter Grande, chief of staff of the Military Corrections Complex on Fort Leavenworth, said the arts and crafts program on post is open only to the all-male, long-term inmates at the USDB. The USP, as a nonmilitary program, is a separate facility. It is on federal property adjacent to Fort Leavenworth.

Grande said the art show can be beneficial for the inmates.

“I think it’s a good outlet for them to be able to show their talents outside the facility,” Grande said. “Secondly, it gives them an outlet to express themselves. Guys that don’t want to participate in sports can have another outlet to occupy their time.”

Grande said art instructors have visited the USDB in the past to lend expertise in showing the inmates how to draw or paint. The program is also a benefit for inmates who display good behavior.

“It’s their extracurricular activity,” Grande said. “They do it during their off time from their work detail.”
Inmates can purchase their own materials, procured by the Military Corrections Complex staff. The materials must be on an approved list.

“We have some pretty talented guys here,” Grande said.