{"id":19110,"date":"2024-07-19T11:26:19","date_gmt":"2024-07-19T15:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=19110"},"modified":"2024-07-19T11:26:19","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T15:26:19","slug":"sing-sing-tells-the-story-of-an-inmate-who-used-art-to-help-others-god-put-me-there-for-a-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/07\/sing-sing-tells-the-story-of-an-inmate-who-used-art-to-help-others-god-put-me-there-for-a-reason.html","title":{"rendered":"‘Sing Sing’ Tells the Story of an Inmate Who Used Art to Help Others: ‘God Put Me There For a Reason’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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While serving time in Sing Sing Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison in upstate New York, for a crime he didn’t commit, John “Divine G” Whitfield had what he describes as a “spiritual epiphany” from God: Create a transformative experience for his fellow inmates that would prepare them for a life beyond the prison walls. Divine G told The Christian Post, <\/em>“God works in some very mysterious way, and I’m 100 percent confident that He put me here for a specific reason.”<\/p>\n

A former DJ, actor, and writer, Divine used his expertise to help launch the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program, which used music, theater, visual arts and dance to help bring about positive change in the lives of inmates. Divine G believes that the arts can be used as a means of rehabilitation and personal growth and potentially transform lives. He said, “One of the things that was an absolute requirement with RTA \u2014 you had to be open to change. You had to be able to embrace change because our whole mission was to use arts as not just a healing and rehabilitative tool but as a tool for growth and development, a tool to make sure that when you walk out of prison, you don’t come back. That was really the ultimate mission.”<\/p>\n

Under Divine G’s leadership, the RTA program, established in 1996, flourished and expanded its reach to other correctional facilities, creating a network of chapters across New York State. The average for recidivism in state prisons is estimated to be 60 percent, but for RTA alums, those rates are closer to two percent. “I think we did a pretty good job,” Divine G said, pointing to those statistics. “This program works; the power of arts is breathtaking.” Divine G\u2019s story is the subject of a new A24 film titled \u201cSing Sing,\u201d starring Colman Domingo as Divine G, Paul Raci as the RTA program director and formerly incarcerated actors and RTA alumni.<\/p>\n