Earlier this month, Common donated a recording studio, equipped with mixing boards, musical instruments, microphones and sound panels to inmates at Statesville Correctional Center in Illinois. The equipment is part of a new program hoping to create a productive environment and to teach new skills to those locked behind the wall. Common also addressed the crowd about the mental effects prison has on a person and recently reconnecting with a man who is currently serving a life sentence at the institution.
“He said, ‘It’s people like me that are dealing with mental sickness and dealing with mental pain, that can change and transform,’” Common explained.
“It really struck me because I knew this brother, and I knew what he used to be. I knew who he was then. I’ve met some of the most enlightened and inspiring people in prison. One gentleman said to me, ‘Imagine being trapped in one act for the rest of your life, the worst act, for the rest of your life.’ I thought about that. Now, if that happened for me, I wouldn’t be up here,” he further stated.
Check out the clip below of the Windy City heroes continuing to help bring about change.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ2HnvSoToY[/embedyt]
