DJC x UMAW IIP: Update #1

May 29

Greetings everyone!

Ted here, Volunteer Coordinator for DJC Records, with an update on the DJC x UMAW Instruments Into Prisons (IIP) campaign.

After launching the drive on April 22nd, we quickly received a positive and robust response from artists and musicians all around the country, willing to redistribute their music gear to those inside. Much of our efforts since have been dedicated to meeting on a weekly basis, processing these responses (nearly 100 of them), and matching them with requests that we have received from the prisons that we are working with.

So far we have focused on three facilities: Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility in Colorado, Allendale Correctional Institution in South Carolina, and San Quentin State Prison in California. Two of these are institutions in which DJC has ongoing projects with some of the artists inside (members of Territorial at Arkansas Valley and members of The Masses at Allendale). That said, we are excited to expand our reach to even more prisons in the near future! We are currently in talks with several institutions to do so.

While we are waiting for some last details from San Quentin, we have begun to ship donations to both Allendale and Arkansas Valley. So far we have shipped 22 pieces of gear from eight different cities across five states.

At Arkansas Valley, our point person has been Lt. Stacy Hays, who heads the recreation department there. At Allendale, I’ve been communicating with Mark Epps, who has been receiving the equipment and making deliveries directly to the prison. DJC Records has a longstanding relationship with Mark, who for the past six years has been a volunteer music teacher at Allendale (and has previously donated a few guitars). It was Mark who originally connected us with Silent Jungle, one of the emcees and beatmakers of The Masses.

Progress is slow but steady, as we are trying to be as intentional with the process as we can! Overall I am energized by the generous spirit of the donors and encouraged by what we have accomplished so far! And this would be nothing without the teamwork from the volunteers outside and the musicians behind bars who have been working to make this happen.

We will continue to provide updates like this as the drive continues!

Sincerely,