Maine Inside Out
Event Actions
Maine Inside Out (MIO) activates individuals and communities to imagine and embody freedom through art, advocacy and support, and transformative justice. Formerly incarcerated people lead our work to build a world where everyone matters and belongs.
Since 2008 MIO has organized and supported system-impacted young people through art programs inside Maine’s youth prison and in the community. MIO’s art and advocacy has changed the culture and policy of youth incarceration in Maine in tangible ways including support of youth-led advocacy which saw the population of incarcerated youth drop from over 200 in 2008 to under 20 youth in 2021.
Speaker Bios
Bruce King and Margot Fine are Co-Leads at MIO. In this workshop, they will offer insights and stories about MIO and the larger ecosystem of organizations and leaders in Maine and nationally that are imagining and building the social infrastructure needed for a world without prisons.
Darryl Shepherd Jr.
Darryl Shepherd Jr. is a Project Facilitator at Maine Inside Out. Darryl joined MIO as an artist and organizer in the winter of 2018. He collaborated on the creation and performance of two original plays, Unspoken Truth (2018) and Exposed (2019). As a co-facilitator and co-host for MIO’s Fall 2020 project and virtual open mic, We Play Too Much, Darryl was instrumental in MIO’s transition to remote art creation and sharing.
Darryl was raised in the rural south by his parents Annie Ziegler and Darryl Shepherd Sr. who both worked as counselors in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. This inspired his work to create avenues for system-impacted people to thrive and create social change. Darryl’s mother stood in front of the US Supreme Court at 5 years old in a successful appeal to integrate schools in Alabama. As a Black, gay man, Darryl hopes to create intersectional diversity through the power of coaching and praxis to heal the harm of oppression and embrace all differences as part of the human experience.
Darryl started his career as an artist at the Savannah College of Art and Design in the Visual Story-Telling and Sequential Art Program. He holds degrees in Art and Drafting & Design from Lurleen B Wallace Community College (LBW) in Alabama. At LBW, he was introduced to the art of Aikido, a martial philosophy that shapes Darryl’s transformative justice and conflict resolution work with MIO.
Darryl is a proud nerd and avid foodie. He has studied astrology since he was 10 years old and has a great love for reading, learning, personal development, and studying culture. He aspires to be an entrepreneur in the fields of transformational coaching, holistic health, and creating art.
Resources