In February 2023, the Tufts University Prison Initiative of Tisch College (TUPIT) hosted the ReSentencing Gallery Opening. This exhibition “showcased a selection of poetry, stories, essays, and visual art from ReSentencing, a nationwide literary and arts journal founded at Tufts with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and Tisch College of Civic Life.” As part of the event, Nurudeen Alabi, a Tufts Education Reentry Network (MyTern) student, read this poem to jam-packed room of supporters.
I WILL NOT MISS…
The continuous sounds of doors opening and closing
Guys screaming and yelling while playing Texas Hold’em
I WILL NOT MISS…
CO’s1 screaming “stand up for count!!”
Long boring days on the block standing about
I WILL NOT MISS…
The days, months and years in solitary while playing solitaire
I WILL NOT MISS…
The smell and taste of prison foods
The everyday gang feuds
I WILL NOT MISS…
My visitors being denied
Moving me from either the gray or the green side2
I WILL NOT MISS…
The random shake downs and the every hour rounds
I WILL NOT MISS…
The metal detector machine and the high price canteen
I WILL NOT MISS…
How prison smells
And the small cold prison cells
I WILL NOT MISS…
How CO’s try to instill fear
And the horrible prison healthcare
I WILL NOT MISS…
How they stack prisoners on one another and that damn Walpole number (w99258)
I WILL NOT MISS…
The D.O.C3
Especially how they profit off of me.
Nurudeen Alabi is from the Roxbury area of Boston, MA. When he was 17-years-old, he was incarcerated for the first time in an adult facility. During this time, he faced serious charges that could have led him to serve the rest of his life in prison. Fortunately, he was given a 17-year sentence to serve, but he only served a little over 15 years. He was recently released 8 months ago. During his incarceration, he found the significance of education as a tool to escape the life he was living. He is not a Tufts University student, but he was advised to apply for the MyTurn Program, which he was accepted. Education is now a big part of his life.
Footnotes
- Correctional Officers
- The Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center is divided into two sides. Individuals who are incarcerated wear green uniforms on one side, and on the other side, they wear grey.
- Department of Corrections
