Works of Justice 116 - Dunasha Payne

PEN America

In Part II of our Family Through The Walls series, we meet Dunasha Payne through an intimate and moving conversation about parenting behind bars. Dunasha is an alumna of Rehabilitation Through The Arts, which provides extensive arts access behind the walls of six New York State correctional facilities. There, she proved herself a talented writer, actor, and singer. She is now the Program Coordinator of the Young Women’s Initiative at Drama Club, a non-profit organization that provides theater programming and mentorship to young, justice-involved individuals in New York City. In her current work, Dunasha pulls from her intersecting experiences—as a justice-involved woman, as a mother, and in the arts—to mentor and connect meaningfully with the young people she teaches. Hosted by Caits Meissner Researched and written by Frances Keohane and Nicolette Natale with guidance from Robert Pollock