Shakespeare Behind Bars
Founded in 1995, Shakespeare Behind Bars is one of the longest running, continuously operating, art, theatre, Shakespeare, and original writing prison programs in the US.
Shakespeare Behind Bars currently serves 200 incarcerated adults and juveniles in in twelve SBB programs in three Kentucky adult prisons – Luther Luckett Correctional Complex, Northpoint Training Center, & Southeast State Correctional Complex (virtual program); five Kentucky juvenile detention centers – Breathitt County Juvenile Detention Center Alternative School; Fayette Regional Juvenile Detention Center, Frenchburg Youth Home; Jackson County Youth Center; Warren County Regional Juvenile Detention Center; one Illinois juvenile detention center – Illinois Youth Center – Chicago; two virtual program for returned citizens – Shax BEYOND Bars and Shax BEYOND Bars Writer’s Circle; and one touring returned citizen memoire program – Othello’s Tribunal.
Additionally, Philomath Films and Shakespeare Behind Bars are filming a second documentary – Shakespeare BEYOND Bars.
Since 1995, Shakespeare Behind Bars has offered theatrical encounters with personal and social issues to incarcerated, post-incarcerated, and at-risk communities, allowing them to develop life skills that will ensure their successful integration into society. The youth and adults we serve experience a powerful personal transformation as a result, building life skills, emotional intelligence and coping strategies essential to successfully re-integrate into society.
- 6%
- SBB participant recidivism rate
- 68%
- National avg. recidivism rate
