I want to thank you for your compassionate reporting in "Crime scenes," about the theatre program at William Head prison in British Columbia (November/December).

We live in an adversarial world, and until people stop seeing everything from religion to gender differences as "them and us," we are doomed to repeat the mistakes that have put some of us on the streets, in military uniforms or in prison.

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The men who live at William Head are the fathers, sons and brothers of ordinary people. That many of them have been burdened with mental health, social and educational issues, which are the responsibility of all of us, is obvious to anyone willing to take a closer look. So long as these men are denied social and cultural integration, we collectively remain a sick society.

Having taught "writing to the light" workshops at William Head (or "Club Fed" to cynics who do not understand that recovery in the joint is a combined social project), I know the effort required to heal personalities shattered by circumstance. It takes great courage for an inmate to let down the guard that keeps conflict at a safe distance, the kind of courage he will need to leave prison behind, one hopes for good.

Inmates learn to repress the instinct for freedom because if they don't, someone else will take it away. That is the sad reality. The prison arts programs--writing, acting, carving and painting--give prisoners, too many of them From First Nations stripped of their traditions by law and prejudice, access to their inner voices and ultimately their dignity. That dignity is a basic human right.

The men mentioned in "Crime scenes," describing the theatre program and public reaction to it--and it has to be said that much of the public supports theatre at William Head--are my friends. We have learned to trust one another. Becoming friends with something or someone we fear is the art of healing. That is dialogue. It is a lesson this red and orange alert world might learn from the prison arts and restorative justice programs that redeem all of us, not just the people who have been caught transgressing the rules we make.

LINDA ROGERS

Victoria, B.C.

Your theatre issue deserves a standing ovation! Particularly enjoyable was the article by Shawn Thompson on the productions put on by inmates at William Head penitentiary. Some plays seem to be tailor-made for prisoners to perform: Samuel Beckett was deeply moved by how they took to his work, in particular Waiting for Godot, and understood it better than critics. Before Godot had even received its English-language premiere, a German inmate at Luttringhausen Prison obtained a copy, translated it and presented it there successfully.

In a letter to Beckett (reprinted in James Knowlson's biography of the playwright), the prisoner wrote: "You will be surprised to be receiving a letter about your play