One evening in May, as I returned from one of my college classes, I picked up a piece of paper from the floor in front of my gate. I sat on the thin mattress in my cell and examined it, hoping that it bore some kind of good news. It was a memorandum from New York’s corrections commissioner, Daniel Martuscello III, asking the state’s incarcerated people to observe seven days of peace and work on breaking the cycle of violence in prison in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Alternatives to Violence (ATV) program. This now-international effort began in New York’s Green Haven Correctional Facility in the aftermath of the 1971 Attica rebellion.

ATV offers modules such as conflict resolution, anger management and trauma resilience. It’s a voluntary alternative to programs such as Aggression Replacement Training, which the corrections department mandates for some people convicted of violent crimes.

As I read through the memo, I thought about how difficult it would be for some to follow. Nonviolence doesn’t just happen. Brutality is etched into prison culture, and many see violence as a necessary tool of survival. And for people like me, who actively practice nonviolence, the path to a relatively peaceful life is full of harrowing steps that no prison-mandated program can prepare you for.

My path to nonviolence actually began at Attica. I was sent there in May 2018 to serve 19 years to life for a murder I committed as a teenager. My time in county jails had been dangerous, but this maximum security prison in Western New York was different. The officers stood guard in hallways with batons at the ready. The solidarity between prisoners that existed during the rebellion was long gone. In the yard, prisoners remained segregated at concrete tables by race, religion, hometown or gang affiliation.

Within my first couple of days, tensions boiled over. As I lay staring at the ceiling, I heard the distinct ring of an alarm and then a voice booming over a loudspeaker in the yard: “Everybody on the wall! Stop fighting and get on the ground!”

Read the full article about breaking cycles of violence in prison by Rashon Venable at The Marshall Project.