Our criminal system’s ability to accomplish mass human caging depends on ignoring and erasing the stories of people who are directly impacted by this injustice. Art, however, has the power to resensitize us to this brutality, making the voices of incarcerated people impossible to ignore. Artists, poets, musicians, and other creatives share today’s stories, shine a light on the past, and imagine new futures. Civil Rights Corps is proud to partner with artists whose work urgently confronts the subject matter of our civil rights work.
Since 2019, Civil Rights Corps has selected cohorts of artists to participate in our Poet- and Artist-in-Residence program. They each produce vital and vivid works that communicate the humanity of directly impacted people and sheds light on the toll the unjust practices in the criminal system take on the bodies and minds of directly impacted people, their loved ones, and our communities.
MEET OUR ARTISTS
CURRENT ARTISTS
Kenneth W. Webb
Visual Artist in Residence 2025
Kenneth is a multidisciplinary artist, entrepreneur, and cultural architect whose work bridges visual art, movement, and conceptual storytelling. Rooted in an expansive creative practice, Webb challenges dominant narratives and reimagines systems of power through painting, performance, and community-based initiatives. His art is deeply influenced by personal and collective histories, centering themes of resilience, identity, and transformation.
At just 17 years old, Webb was sentenced to over 50 years in prison, ultimately serving 16 years before his release. During that time, he cultivated his artistic voice as a means of survival, resistance, and self-definition. Art became both refuge and rebellion—a way to reframe his own narrative and challenge the structures that sought to confine him.
At the heart of Webb’s practice is a commitment to art as a tool for liberation. Whether through painting, movement, or creative enterprise, he is invested in expanding the possibilities of artistic expression while cultivating ecosystems of care, knowledge, and economic independence. His work reclaims authorship of personal and communal narratives, forging new pathways for self-determined creative futures.
April Lee
Poet in Residence 2025
April Lee is a dedicated community activist based in Philadelphia, committed to supporting families affected by harmful systems, including the child welfare (family policing) system, the carceral system, and other structures that negatively impact her community.
As a founding member of Philly Voice also known as, Philly Voice for Change, April works to engage and mobilize community members and activists to push for systemic reforms. Her advocacy extends beyond Philadelphia, contributing to national efforts for justice and family preservation. She serves on the advisory boards of Stop Over reporting Our People (STOP), The Family Justice Law Center, United Family Advocates, and other initiatives aimed at dismantling oppressive systems.
April’s commitment to service is evident in every aspect of her life—whether feeding the homeless, facilitating life skills groups, mentoring women in her community, or caring for her own family. Beyond her activism, she has a deep passion for writing and has performed her poetry on numerous stages throughout Philadelphia and beyond.
William Anderson
Poet in Residence 2025
William is a Playwright-Poet-Orator-Emcee who wields his pen for the purpose of reclaiming his agency, by giving voice to the lives and to the plights of African Americans and other marginalized people of color, while achieving catharsis through self-expression. He is currently serving a 27-to-life sentence in an Ohio Correctional Facility and uses his time to create and to implement programming he and his comrades need for personal growth and development beyond incarceration, such as: a Daddy Daughter Dance and Workshop, a theatre group that is partnered with Oberlin College, and a Toastmaster’s Gavel Club that nominated him as president. William earned his bachelor’s degree in communications, along with a sociology minor from Ashland University. He was also inducted into the Lambda Pi Eta, National Communications Honors Society.
William dedicates his spare time to learning Spanish, Violin, and acoustic guitar as well as mentoring incarcerated youth and studying sociology. He is also a co-host of the Creative Conversations podcast, that affords incarcerated artists a platform to express how art has improved their lives, holistically. William’s ultimate goal is to achieve a terminal degree in sociology, in order to gain a professorship. He plans to use his garnered knowledge and life experience to help cultivate young minds and to produce plays that will speak to generations and compel them to effect change.
ALUMNI
Abigail Cook
Visual Artist in Residence Alum
Abigail Cook is an Atlanta-based sculptor and visual artist. Her work has been exhibited at the Newark Arts Festival, ATHICA, Agnes Scott’s Dalton Gallery, and eyedrum. Cook’s sculpture, poetry, and paintings have been published by Columbia University, Tufts University, UC Denver, Quarter Press, and Underground Journal. Cook’s work aims to repurpose the familiar to invite open dialogue and novel interpretations of existing systems and stigmas.
Jose Perez
Poet in Residence Alum
Jose grew up in New York City in foster homes, group homes, juvenile institutions, then adult prison as a teenager. Jose entered prison at the age of 16 and returned back to society 3 years ago as a 35 year old man. While incarcerated, Pérez earned an AA from Bard College, a BS from Nyack College through HudsonLink, and capped his academic career with a Masters in Professional Studies (MPS) from the New York Theological Seminary. Along with his formal education, Jose established himself as an emerging leader within prison walls, teaching and facilitating college preparatory classes, alternatives to violence workshops, and poetry workshops under the Harvest Moon Collective with Beat poet Janine Pommy Vega. As a poet Jose has written with and has hosted works by poets like Naomi Shihab Nye and Amiri Baraka within prison walls.
Omari Booker
Visual Artist in Residence Alum
Omari Booker began his journey as an artist his senior year of high school at Montgomery Bell Academy. There he realized his gift for visual art and like most true artists, the path to developing his talent has been anything but linear. As he studied Mathematics and other more traditional curricula he finally focused on studio art and graphic design earning his B.S. in Graphic Design from Tennessee State University. Omari is currently the curator and artist in residence at Woodcuts Gallery and Custom Framing. Omari’s work has been influenced by masters such as Vincent Van Gogh and Salvador Dali as well as modern artists like Charles White and Jacob Lawrence. Omari takes a process-oriented approach to his art, embracing it as a therapeutic modality through which he is able to express his passion for the freedom and independence that the creative process allows him to experience.
KB Brookins
Poet in Residence Alum
KB Brookins is a Black queer multi-genre writer, cultural worker, and author of How To Identify Yourself with a Wound (Kallisto Gaia Press, 2022). Their poems and essays are published in Academy of American Poets, Huffington Post, American Poetry Review, and elsewhere. KB has earned fellowships from PEN America and Lambda Literary among others, and they currently serve as the 2022-23 Poet-In-Residence at Civil Rights Corps. KB has two forthcoming books, Freedom House (Deep Vellum Publishing, 2023) and PRETTY (Alfred A. Knopf, 2024). Follow them online at @earthtokb.
LeXander Bryant
Visual Artist in Residence Alum
LeXander Bryant is a photographer and visual artist based in Nashville, TN. It was in 2011 that photography became the primary art form he was drawn to reflect upon the world. As his craft continued to sharpen, he has always returned to his muse, the black community, particularly those residing in the South. Through his images, he is able to reflect not only on his personal life and see a piece of himself within the images, but also create a conversation around the most important issues that the Black community has experienced such as racism, economic inequality, and community activism . His work is honest, relatable and communal allowing those who interact with it feel like they can understand the world better. LeXander has been a part of both group and solo exhibitions since 2016 and continues to collaborate with artists to explore every possible area of creative thought for the sole purpose of connecting with viewers while delivering truthful and well-crafted content that pushes boundaries.
Mike Floss
Musician in Residence Alum
Mike Floss was inspired by the music of Miles David and Duke Ellington as well as his father, Rod McGaha, to take up the trumpet at age five. His interests evolved into creating his own beats and finding his unique voice. Floss garnered national attention when John Gotty from seminal hip-hop blog The Smoking Section saw him at a grimy little club called The End. “What really capped it off,” Gotty said, “is a line where he referenced TSU students spending refund checks to be fresh, and this crowd composed of kids from all the local colleges loses it. In that moment, he presented himself as Every man that so many of us could relate to.”
Faylita Hicks
Poet in Residence Alum
FAYLITA HICKS (she/they) is a queer Afro-Latinx activist, writer, performer, and interdisciplinary artist born in South Central CA and raised in Central Texas. They use their direct experience with pre-trial detention to advocate for the rights of LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC people forced into poverty-based incarceration and subjected to racially-charged police disruptions. Their experience in the Hays County Jail has been featured in the 2019 ITVS Independent Lens Documentary “45 Days in a Texas Jail” and the 2021 Brave New Films production “Racially Charged: America’s Misdemeanor Problem,” which is narrated by Mahershala Ali. They have been awarded fellowships and residencies from Tin House, Lambda Literary, Jack Jones Literary Arts, Broadway Advocacy, The Dots Between, and the Right of Return USA. Hicks received a BA in English from Texas State University-San Marcos in 2010 and an MFA in Creative Writing from Sierra Nevada University in 2018.
Randall Horton
Poet in Residence Alum
Randall Horton is the author of the poetry collections Pitch Dark Anarchy (Triquarterly/Northwestern University Press, 2013), The Definition of Place (Main Street Rag, 2010), and The Lingua France of Ninth Street (Main Street Rag, 2009). His honors include the Bea Gonzalez Poetry Award, a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship in Literature, and most recently GLCA New Writers Award for Creative Nonfiction for Hook: A Memoir (Augury Books, 2015). Horton is an associate professor of English at the University of New Haven. He is a member of the experimental performance group Heroes Are Gang Leaders which recently received the 2018 American Book Award in Oral Literature. Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, he now resides in East Harlem.
Jesse Krimes
Visual Artist in Residence Alum
Jesse Krimes is an Emmy winning artist from Philadelphia whose work explores systems, hierarchies, and how they inform social norms. While serving a six-year prison sentence, he produced numerous bodies of work that have been exhibited nationally and internationally. Krimes’ work has been included in numerous exhibitions in venues including the Palais de Tokyo (Paris); the Goethe Institute (New York); Aperture Gallery (New York); the Maryland Institute College of Art (Baltimore); the Spagnuole Art Gallery, Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.), and the Zimmerli Art Museum (New Jersey), among other venues. After Krimes’ release in 2014, he co-founded Right of Return USA in partnership with the Soze agency, the first national fellowship dedicated to supporting formerly incarcerated artists. He is represented by Burning in Water Gallery in New York. In addition to his independent work, Krimes successfully led a class-action lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase for their predatory practice of charging ex-offenders exorbitant fees.
Jorge Antonio Renaud
Poet in Residence Alum
Born in New Mexico but raised in Texas, Jorge is the son of a farmer of Louisiana descent, whose family moved to South Texas over 150 years ago, and a mother who waded the Rio Bravo at 15. Jorge has published poetry and essays across the country. He was also previously incarcerated for over 27 years. Jorge has been an integral part of Reenvision Justicia’s network of Latinx organizers, lawyers and policy analysts for years and a regular and popular speaker at LatinoJustice annual convenings of Latinxs and the Criminal Justice system.
Sherrill Roland
Visual Artist in Residence Alum
Sherrill Roland is an interdisciplinary artist who creates art that challenges ideas around controversial social and political constructs and generates a safe space to process, question and share. He was born in Asheville, NC, and received an MFA in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Inspired by his prison experience for a crime he did not commit, he founded The Jumpsuit Project to raise awareness around issues related to mass incarceration. Roland’s socially-engaged art project has been presented at Open Engagement Chicago, Oakland City Hall, and the Michigan School of Law. Last year, he was awarded the Art Fund For Justice grant and the Southern Arts, South Arts Grand Prize, and State Fellowship. He is a 2021 Creative Capital Awardee.
Reginald Dwayne Betts
Honorary Poet in Residence
Reginald Dwayne Betts holds a B.A. from the University of Maryland and a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was awarded the Israel H. Perez Prize for best student note or comment appearing in the Yale Law Journal He spent his summers with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the District of Columbia’s Public Defender Service. He served by appointment of former President Barack Obama as a practitioner member of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The author of three books, Betts’ latest collection of poems, Bastards of the Reagan Era, has been named the winner of the Pen New England Poetry Prize.
Alana Roth
Honorary Visual Artist in Residence
Alana is a visual artist and public defender. She hopes to see the abolition of our current criminal legal system and in its place, a deep investment in a sustainable economy, education, health care, living wages, affordable housing and the arts. Alana works at the Legal Aid Society of New York, where she provides legal defense for people accused of crimes, currently in Manhattan and previously in the Bronx. She is represented by the Carrie Able Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She was part of ProjectArt’s inaugural 2016-2017 artists in residence program. Alana received her J.D. from Fordham Law School in 2012, where she participated in the Criminal Defense Clinic and spent a semester working and studying in Mexico City. She has studied drawing at the New York Academy of Art, the Art Students’ League and the New York Studio School. Alana’s work is featured in the banner on our homepage.