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 nine SBB programs in three Kentucky adult prisons – Luther Luckett Correctional Complex, Northpoint Training Center, & Southeast State Correctional Complex (virtual program); four Kentucky juvenile detention centers – Fayette Regional Juvenile Detention Center, Jackson County Youth Center, Frenchburg Youth Home, & Breathitt County Juvenile Detention Center Alternative School; one Illinois juvenile detention center – Illinois Youth Center – Chicago; one virtual program for returned citizens – Shax BEYOND Bars; and one touring returned citizen memoir program – Othello’s Tribunal.
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