Written by - Nico Sedivy

In contemporary America, we associate voluntary imprisonment mainly with acts of civil disobedience, meant to demonstrate and protest injustice. However, in medieval Europe, pious individuals would willingly confine themselves to small, solitary cells in churches to spend their time in prayer, religious study, and contemplation. These people were called anchorites, if men, and anchoresses, if women. One anchoress in England was Julian of Norwich.

Written by - Maria Camila Arbelaez

Skeletons of Christian bodies were martyred during Roman times and then discovered and made relics by members of the the Catholic Church throughout Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. This elevation of the skeletons represents an enduring testament to the immortality and auspiciousness attributed to Christians that were captured and killed by the Roman Empire. The so called “catacomb saints" were found in Italy’s catacombs, where thousands of Christian and Jewish bodies were left during times of religious intolerance. A tradition was thus created in which the skeletons were cared for and intricately decorated with the finest jewels and royal garb of the time. The Vatican would determine whether a skeleton was...

Phil Kaye, spoken word poet, shares his experience of creating poetry with inmates in maximum security prison. He originally enters the volunteer program as a naive college student and questions whether or not he will be able to have a real impact on the prisoners. Through this experience, Phil finds that the inmates use the creative outlet to reflect upon their past and realizes the important role that education and the arts play in rehabilitation during imprisonment.

“Ai Weiwei and Jacob Appelbaum are artists, journalists, dissidents, polymaths — and targets. Their respective governments, China and the United States, monitor their every move. They have been detained and interrogated. Ai cannot leave China, and Appelbaum is advised not to return to the United States. They are separated from their families. Ai has been imprisoned and beaten by the police. Yet each continues his work and speaks out against government wrongdoing.” This excerpt from a New York Times article describes two peoples’ attempts to challenge their governments at the expense of their freedom. Ai Weiwei creates protest art that serves political and journalistic roles in exposing the Chinese government. Similarly, Jacob Appelbaum is accused with helping to disclose private...