This episode will feature poet Quentin Lewis who is imprisoned at Wende Correctional Facility in Western New York.
It will air Tuesday, March 25 at 2 and 5pm, and Friday, March 28 at 5pm on WRFI and will post to this feed following the debut.
Hamlet calls death "the undiscovered country," a mysterious land from which no one returns. Host Michael Rhynes repurposes the concept to highlight the invisibility and disenfranchisement of prison populations. Although incarcerated people are all around us, they are largely invisible to us, their humanity erased.
In the program, Michael engages poets and writers who are incarcerated in New York. We hear about about their work and lives. The project aims to elevate theses writers' voices and restore what's lost to all of us when people are exiled to the "Undiscovered Country."
Michael was wrongfully incarcerated in New York State for 39 years and was exonerated in 2023. While in prison he published poetry including a chapbook entitled "Guerillas in the Mist" and started a theatre troupe. He brings his wealth of lived experience to discussions of incarceration, re-entry, and criminal justice.
The program is under development but has already aired some preliminary episodes. It's a partnership between WRFI, Prisoner Express, the Cornell Prison Education Program and Civic Ensemble's Re-Entry Theatre project and supported by a grant from Humanities New York.
