{"id":3287,"date":"2023-08-17T08:09:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-17T08:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/?p=3287"},"modified":"2023-08-17T08:18:56","modified_gmt":"2023-08-17T08:18:56","slug":"face-to-face-i-sat-with-prisoners-after-writing-about-the-crimes-that-put-them-behind-bars-their-first-words-to-me-were-fascinating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/?p=3287","title":{"rendered":"FACE-TO-FACE I sat with prisoners after writing about the crimes that put them behind bars \u2013 their first words to me were fascinating"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1248px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:0px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p style=\"color: rgb(242, 241, 236);\">THERE are locked doors and security cameras between me and the outside world.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: rgb(242, 241, 236);\">On my way into the building, I pass through a metal detector, but my destination isn\u2019t a boarding gate at Dublin Airport.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: rgb(242, 241, 236);\">Instead, I\u2019m sitting in a small room with ten inmates from Dublin\u2019s Mountjoy Prison, several of whom I know well \u2014 because I\u2019ve written about their crimes in the past. Or at least I thought I knew them well.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: rgb(242, 241, 236);\">Over the course of the afternoon, I would engage in a series of discussions with individuals I never expected to meet face-to-face in my life.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: rgb(242, 241, 236);\">The meeting had been arranged after Senator Lynn Ruane contacted me in March of this year to ask if I would be willing to meet with a group of inmates in \u2018The Joy\u2019.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: rgb(242, 241, 236);\">When I asked what the purpose of the meeting was, Senator Ruane explained to me that it was related to the Theatre of the Oppressed project she was running along with artist Grace Dyas.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesun.ie\/news\/11181568\/inside-mountjoy-jail-prisoners-theatre-oppressed-project\/?s=03\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: rgb(255, 145, 77);\">Re<\/span><span style=\"color: rgb(255, 145, 77);\">ad more here<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3287"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3290,"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3287\/revisions\/3290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}