The Expressive Arts and Write to Heal programs at Bedford Hills and Taconic Correctional Facilities are an initiative of Women & Justice Project in collaboration with partners who are leaders in criminal justice reform and who have experienced incarceration. Expressive Arts sessions are facilitated in partnership with WJP artist-in-residence Katie Yamasaki and offered weekly for people living in general population. Write to Heal is facilitated in partnership with Columbia University’s Center for Justice and offered in Bedford’s Residential Rehabilitation Unit (a separate housing unit for people serving more than 15 days in segregated confinement) and in Taconic’s general population. A core component of our model is that sessions are co-facilitated by women with deep insight into and personal knowledge of the incarceration experience in New York’s prisons. Social workers are available to provide additional support for participants as needed.
Learn more and support the programs here.
On January 14th, 2026, the Expressive Arts and Write to Heal programs hosted a long-anticipated exhibition of student work at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, New York’s maximum-security prison for women.
We are pleased to announce that as of September 2025, the Expressive Arts & Write to Heal programs have officially launched at Taconic Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison for women in New York.
Women & Justice Project is excited to announce the launch of InsideArtsNY.org, a new website to highlight the powerful work of participants from the Expressive Arts and Write to Heal programs.
