Jonathan R Humphries

Windham's Rembrandt: the True Story of the First Prison Art Teacher in Texas Jonathan R Humphries

UPDATED (LATE 2012) WITH MANY MORE PICTURES When Jim Humphries was called on to teach art behind Texas prison walls in 1972, he was just another struggling artist. He never thought of the impact his art class would have on the the inmates or the mentally disturbed patients housed by the Texas Department of Corrections. Maybe it was because Jim was the first art teacher in Texas to teach the federally incarcerated, a role that soon had him pioneering the first art therapy program behind bars. Or maybe it was the right time in America to try another, more rehabilitative approach to the treatment of convicted felons. The reasons may be numerous, as are the stories he wrote, based on the actual life events that involved Jim, his colleagues, and his students. This book tells their stories, and reveals the effect a little artistic expression had on the lives of the many inmates fortunate enough to have learned from Jim.