By Ghostwrite Mike and The Mundo Press
CHOWCHILLA, CA – Scott Behnke, an incarcerated artist who co-founded the Art of Recovery and Therapy (ART) activity group at Valley State Prison (VSP) nearly 10 years ago, is now asking officials where the ART’s more than 30 donated works of art are located.
The pieces were recently given to the ART’s staff sponsor, an unnamed state employee working under the Community Resource Manager (CRM) who recently transferred to a different prison.
“We’re angry, disappointed and tired of being mistreated by state employees, who seem to never be held accountable,” said Behnke, who described how he personally handed the assemblage of completed works to the CRM’s staffer nearly three months ago, only to have them disappear.
“The art seems to have vanished along with her as she left her VSP post and moved to another facility,” said Behnke, who serves as the chairperson for the ART, and recently lodged a formal appeal seeking an investigation into the “theft of our resident art, and the unchecked state actor obstruction of our amends process to our respective crime victims.”
While participating in VSP’s intensive 52-week Batterers Domestic Violence program, a self-help curriculum facilitated by California’s Victim Services department, Behnke answered a request for art donations made by the program’s facilitator, who was seeking pieces that would be displayed at the newly constructed safe house for victims of human trafficking.
The art community rallied to donate the more than 30 pieces of eclectic art and placed them all into large plastic bags, which were then secured within the ART property cage accessible only to VSP’s CRM staff.
Several of the artists who contributed pieces for donation to the Safe House program expressed frustration over how their creations have been disregarded.
Savage, a youth offender who contributed a native medicine scene, described how the theft of his art has denied him and the Safe House occupants the blessing his culturally relevant art confers.
“Not only did the theft of this art rob me of the amends with which I made it, because the Safe House occupants are like surrogates for my own crimes, but my people believe healing happens when our cultural art depictions are observed by others. We made our art for those folks who we won’t ever meet, but who we know are afraid, isolated and under real threat of harm,” said Savage.
Deshawn, an older Black artist and former gang member didn’t mince words about his gifted art being taken, told us “look, like, I’m a peaceful dude now, but this right here is some f*ck*d up grimey sh*t for somebody to do to us and to the people in those houses who need to be consoled. This is foul. I feel especially bad for the little ones—the kids caught in these situations where the mom has to flee their abuser. Some of our guys made toys and cute things to soothe them, you feel me? All of that probably got quick-sold online already.”
“This right here,” Behnke explained, “is another good reason why we need to be able to photograph our art, because now we don’t even have proof of what we made, conveyed, etc. Our group spent over $800 in the use of the various canvases, paints, instruments and raw materials that were necessary for our guys to collectively complete these works.
“We could’ve placed them into an art drive, generated funds, and both donated the pieces, and recouped our materials expenses, enabling us to make the next round of donations. Now we are without both the supplies and recoupment funds. We need Warden oversight (regarding) this problem and we need to be made whole by VSP.”
Benjamin Frandsen, Executive Director of the Ben Free Project, a nonprofit organization that supports the carceral arts and sponsors the Barz Behind Bars (B³) poetry workshop at VSP, recently committed to help the ART recoup their losses and supply the artists with new materials for a future drive.
“The ART is permitted by the California Code of Regulations authority to organize fundraisers within the facility with the approval of the Warden and CRM, so we at Ben Free have agreed to sponsor the ART’s next institutional food sale fundraiser and match that amount in materials support for the artists,” Frandsen said.
Behnke, whose ART group is now sponsorless, told us he alerted the CRM at VSP that the ART community has formally requested that the Ben Free Project be the named charity beneficiary for their next food sale fundraiser.
He said, “I’ve written the CRM. My wife emailed the CRM. We know Benjamin emailed the CRM. VSP knows they are responsible for this loss, and the CRM knows our group has, since the theft, been left sponsorless, unable to convene and refused the annual fundraiser opportunities that would make us whole.
“It’s time they allow us to continue in the community work we’ve been doing for the past decade. They read the Vanguard—they know what the right thing to do here is. Let’s hope they do it.”
