It's crafting day in Jamey Bradbury's class at Highland Mountain Correctional Center.

I'm going to give you guys some Play-Doh, and then I'm going to give you a scene to create.

This class is called Tapping into Your Creative Self.

yeah, pass those around.

The idea is to show students that everyone has a creative side.

and you don't need elaborate materials to access it.

what I like to do is kind of baby step people into creativity, into taking a risk that might be scary for them.

Highland houses about 350 women.

15 signed up for Bradbury's six week class, though a few have been released in that time, So the good news is, you don't have to be an origami expert to get something out of crafting.

Bradbury doesn't force any participate in.

And when she held the acting class, two women chose to leave.

But students have sometimes surprised themselves when they've tried new things.

Like Tanya Parker.

I wrote my first poem a couple weeks ago.

I was so happy I did something like that.

I've never written a poem before.

At 66, I got my first one.

but I wouldn't have been able to do it if I didn't come to this class.

Parker finds her poem.

There it is.

Okay.

Ready?

It's called my home.

My home is not made of bricks.

My heart is not made of stone.

Parker says since writing that poem, she's also reading poetry for the first time.

The classes have also taught her to feel comfortable speaking in front of a group.

She says something she's always avoided, and she says that confidence will help her when she is released.

In under a month.

I'm gonna stand up for myself.

You know, if people like what I say or what I say, they don't have to come around.

The number of incarcerated Alaskans has tripled since the 1970s, and arts classes like Bradbury's are shown to reduce both violence inside prisons and the rates of people returning to prison once released.

But a spokesperson for the Department of Corrections says only a quarter of jails and prisons in Alaska offer some kind of arts class.

"E" Is another student.

We can't show her on camera or share her name because of a rule that requires victim notification.

She says the guards limit how people who are incarcerated can interact with each other.

Most of the time.

So this class becomes a unique space.

We get to have fun and that's definitely, you know, joy, laughter creativity.

We're using all of our senses.

So, you know, without even some of us knowing it, it's like this mindfulness, we're in the moment.

We're not, you know, just doing the routine, you know, go to meals go to meds.

Go to count.

It's something different.

"E" says she guesses that some people on the outside might not understand why it's important to offer art classes here.

That prison should be a punishment.

But she says the rest of prison life is plenty punishing.

Bradbury says during some of her writing classes, her students have processed intense emotions, and she says the classes are also a break from prison life.

You look around and you see people in yellow jumpsuits, and you remember.

Oh, I'm in a prison, but you pretty quickly forget that.

And I think that for a few minutes, at least in the class, they're able to forget that, too.

And it's just a group of women crafting together, hanging out together, having fun and laughing.

Bradbury gives each student a certificate for completing the class.

Yeah, I've got certificates that I'm proud of.

Tanya Parker says when she gets home after finishing her sentence in May, she's planning to hang it on her wall.

in Anchorage with photojournalist Matt Faubion, I'm Rachel Cassandra.