Tom came from a troubled home. He was addicted to drugs from a young age, and his life was quickly spiraling out of control.
By the time he was 25, he was convicted of robbery and homicide related to his drug addiction, and sentenced to life in prison.
Today, that same man is part of a program that is bringing hope to many troubled teens, showing them they have a chance to save their own lives and take steps toward healing their communities.
The Balance and Restorative Justice program, which operates under the auspices of the City of Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program, is designed to give truant teens from St. Gabriel’s Hall — a residential facility for court-assigned boys — an opportunity to make reparations for their misdemeanor crimes in their community by painting murals that adorn the othewise blank walls of buildings and train stations throughout the city.
Members of St. Anne Parish have become an integral part of the program, and their pastor, Father Joseph Brandt, has made space in the parish school where community members and the St. Gabriel’s teens paint on the weekends.
The program’s goal is to build understanding, and a sense of belonging for the teenagers and give them the opportunity to make reperations for their actions.
“I wish I could have made better choices. I was at St. Gabriel’s over 30 years ago,” said Tom, who is now an inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Graterford penitentiary, the largest maximum-security prison in Pennsylvania. He is also a member of the restorative justice program, and he shares his hard-won insights with teens who are doing the mural work.
“In a way, I’m trying to go back and straighten myself out,” Tom said. “I’ve caused a lot of harm which is irreparable.
“There’s a family out there without their son,” he said. “I know what that’s like. I lost two brothers, and I’m constantly reminded of the damage I’ve done to my own family when I talk to my sisters, who still cry that I’m in here.”
He’s served 40 years of his life sentence.
“Two times a month, the kids and the inmates paint together, and the men serve as role models for the kids,” said Jane Golden, the director of the Mural Arts Program.
“Most of them are ‘lifers,’ so they have gained much wisdom, and they talk to [the boys] about their lives and the bad choices they made that led them to be in prison. Some kids think that a life sentence means parole in five years, but they tell them that in Pennsylvania, a life sentence is for life without parole. They encourage the kids to change their lives.”
The larger-than-life murals the inmates, teens and parishioners work on have become Philadelphia trademarks.
Initially, the murals made through the restorative justice program were painted by selected inmates at Graterford; the panels would later become part of one of the 2,500 indoor and outdoor mural projects.
That success led to the expansion of the program to include males from St. Gabriel’s Hall who are enrolled in the Mitchell Program — a 120-day residential treatment program for male youths between the ages of 12 and 17 who have been convicted of misdemeanor crimes.
In addition to providing a firsthand look at life in prison — a potential reality for the teens at St. Gabriel’s — the program also works to support them in surviving and adapting within their communities.
At St. Anne’s for example, parishioner Eilen Blair, who has been the victim of violent crime, said: “We hope to show them that there are many people who care, without an agenda. We want them to get ahead (see her story on pg. 32).”
Added Father Brandt: “We have a lot of space and we’re looking to increase our outreach, so whatever we can do in the community, we’d like to do it …
“A project like this can only invigorate the life of a parish,” he said.
Each mural involves a process that is as detail-oriented as making a quilt: hundreds of six-by-six foot, color-coded, square panels of durable, cloth-like material are given to the groups working on the project, for their members to paint. The panels are then put together and mounted on the assigned city wall by the artist who designed the mural.
Tom and his fellow muralists have been working on a design by Cesar Viveros-Herrera, a popular local mural artist whose design is a response to suggestions by the teens and the other volunteers involved in the project.
The mural will cover a section of a wall along Lehigh Avenue in Kensington that is about 300 feet long and 30 feet high. It is called a “healing wall,” because the remorse, hopes and dreams of the muralists have become part of it.
Some of the faces of the teens and community members involved are even incorporated into the mural.
“The Mural Arts Program has helped me express my feelings. It makes me proud,” said 16-year-old Benjamin, who violated his probation for assaulting an officer. “Cesar tells me I have a lot of potential. I’ve always had interest in art but I never thought I had any ability — but now I feel like I can do it, and help people through art.”
The program has also helped Benjamin begin to hope that ,with help, he, too, can change his life.
“This is my way of saying ‘I’m sorry’ to the people who saw me get arrested, and didn’t need to see what happened,” he said. “I’m trying to make that place, where I got arrested, more beautiful. I’ve been able to do something without feeling out of place, and doing it in a safe, peaceful place. Peace – we don’t have a lot of it. It’s chaos on the streets. But here we can have fun without getting in trouble.”
The project has given the boys an opportunity to make something good out of some terrible experiences, said Robin Buseman, the administrator of the Mitchell Program. She said that, in the last six months, she has seen a real change in some of the 40 boys involved in the program.
“One boy saw his best friend shot right in front of him,” she said. “Another was raised by his grandparents because his parents abuse drugs. Most don’t have fathers — which is always a problem for boys. Substance abuse by parents, or the kids, is not unusual. In fact, I can’t believe some of them are functioning, especially when I read their files and learn about what they’ve gone through.”
But now, she said, “I’ve noticed that the kids involved in this program are more interested in their community — [they] have gone to Graterford, and realized how one bad choice can ruin their lives — and some have realized that they really like art and have a talent for it.”
In addition to the painting and mentoring, a key part of the program is its sharing sessions, held twice a month, in which the boys, inmates and parish members all have an opportunity to share their experience and recommend ways to counter or break the cycle of violence.
“I was holding anger in because my dad left me, and I thought I was the only one feeling this way. But through the talking sessions, I saw that a lot of the men had no father-figure and felt the same way,” said 17-year-old Julius, who is in the Mitchell Program for selling drugs.
Listening to the community members, he’s come to realize how much people care about their community: “It made me think, ‘Why am I selling drugs and ruining their neighborhood?’”
And, from the inmates: “This one guy told me about what he did when he was 16 years old, and now he’s in prison for life. He really cares about me, and I look up to him. I know what I have to do when I get out.”
The success of the program has been noted by city officials around the country and the world, who are exploring ways of exporting the Mural Arts Program to their own cities.
Once the teens leave St. Gabriel’s Hall, the program continues to provide them with a sense of security through employment in the Mural Arts Program, and acceptance into other programs, or help in furthering their education.
“We know all is not well, because many go back to the same environment without support or guidance, but we try to do the best we can for them,” Golden said. “It’s clear that the Mural Arts Program has changed them.
“The real success is [demonstrated by the fact that] four years ago I was getting them out of court, and today they are in trade schools, making a difference with their lives.”
To learn more about the program or to volunteer to paint, call Brian Campbell at (215) 685-0760.
CS&T staff writer Nadia Pozo can be reached at npozo@adphila.org or (215) 965-4615.