Tamms Year 10

In 2008, ten years after Tamms CMAX Prison opened, human rights advocates started a program to help those incarcerated there to cope with the long-term and inhumane conditions. Tamms Year 10 is a project created by human rights activists that allows the public to get insight into the negative effects of extended solitary confinement, and how it directly correlates with the inability for inmates to react to rehabilitation tactics and creates poor mental health. Tamms Poerty and the Photo Request from Solidarity are both projects that use the arts to help connect those in confinement with the world outside of their prison. Prisoners can submit requests for poetry or photography that professional photographers and volunteers fulfill giving inmates a link to society and a window into the outside world. In 2014, Tamms CMAX closed. The advocacy and arts initiatives of Tamms Year 10 had a direct impact.