The Visiting Room Project

We are a living public memory project that invites the public to see and hear from people spending their lives behind prison walls

There are everyday people behind these walls, who love, who get sad, who hurt, who are happy, who have dreams. You can lock us up, but you can't stop us from being human beings.

Daryl Waters, contributor to The Visting Room Project

The only collection of its kind in the world, The Visiting Room Project is home to the largest archive of filmed testimonials ever gathered from people serving life in prison, decades into their incarceration. With astonishing honesty and intimacy, contributors to the project share their reflections on the past, their hopes for the future, and the daily struggle of knowing that prison life is the only life they will experience.

What can I expect from an event with The Visiting Room Project?

A typical one-hour program includes:

  • An introduction to the project from co-creator Dr. Marcus Kondkar
  • A screening of three interviews from The Visiting Room
  • A panel discussion with formerly-incarcerated contributors to the project

Thanks to unexpected changes in their circumstances, a small number of contributors to the project are now home and available to speak to audiences directly. They share their experiences of serving life without parole, the transformative power of story-telling, and the capacity of human beings to create hope in the face of impossible circumstances. We are excited to work with you on a program that is tailored to your audience and event. Let’s collaborate! Please reach out using the email address below.

The Visiting Room Project

[email protected]

Devastatingly potent.

Dr. Vesla Mae Weaver, co-director of the American Prision Writing Archive

A remarkable oral history project ... The visiting Room Project shows how there is something terribly wrong with locking people up for the rest of their lives.

Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group

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TheVisiting RoomProject