"Beyond Bars" Prison Program - Reflection from Sammi Accola

The first time I witnessed the Cultural Arts Alliances’ Beyond Bars prison songwriting program, was a concert in January 2025. What I experienced was incomparable joy, a new depth of sadness, and a hope so big in my chest that was undeniably rooting for guys I had barely even met. 

It’s certainly not an event for those who do not want to be changed. But believe me, you’ve got to see it with your own eyes. 

Well, try to…close your eyes…but also maybe squint so you can keep reading…now, imagine… 

Grown men cheering in solidarity as brothers perform (many for the first time) their most vulnerable stories, mind-melting breakthroughs, and celebratory anthems. Poetic justice is served. It breaks your heart and puts it right back together at the same time. 

This particular time around, their songs covered themes of finding safety inside their minds, desires to be a “superman” for their families, commissary jingles, and welcoming their arms wide with tearjerking hooks like “my name is Big House, my heart is your home”...coming from one of the toughest-looking men in the room! 

I feel blessed to have been invited into this incredible program, but also for the teachings and lessons I’m learning from the lead songwriter and co-founder of Beyond Bars, Caitlin Cannon. 

Caitlin and I practically met the night before the program started, and I will tell you–driving from Santa Rosa Beach to Walton Correctional Institution (a 45-minute drive) for 2 weeks straight gives plenty of time to get to know someone. But I’m so thankful it was her. 

Caitlin has a brother in the system, and a painfully unique lens to tell the truth about the prison system and prepare those entering it. Every day I had a bucket full of random questions because there is simply nothing like that environment–and most mornings after we prepared the morning’s lesson, she would need silence. 

It was humorous, but it was honest. A sobering reminder of the intensity of the work we were about to do. 

We learned each other. Serious heart work. Caitlin leads out of fierce loyalty, genuine care, musical genius and has worked damn hard to keep this program going. 

One of my most favorite quotes from Caitlin is: 

Knowing how to write songs is knowing you don’t know how to write songs. No right or wrong way to do this, only getting there. -Caitlin Cannon

She reminded all of us to breathe a little deeper and let our shoulders fall at the pressure of our own expectations. Again, I’m so thankful it was her. 

Because this was the advanced songwriting class, we gave the class 6 different song prompts to write each day: 

1. Children’s Song 

2. Commissary Jingle (try translating “two soups & a chip, that’s all I need for a brick” for me…I am learning a WHOLE lot about prison culture and man, these guys brought their stories!)

3. A tourist’s “Visit Walton County Correctional” song 

4. Superhero Song (though some took on anti-heros). One of my favorite lyrical images was from the hilarious Tony who rapped about five mini-me’s of himself villainizing the day. The whole room bursted with laughter. Oh, the sweetest medicine. 

5. Personification of a Brickwall Song 

6. And lastly, a Funeral Song…this was a special day. Some wrote in the form of nostalgic letters to their families, others full of prayers for forgiveness, and another performed an Irish-style jig, lyrics following: 

I want a happy goodbye, I want to leave a smile on someone’s face. My family shouldn’t have to cry, I’m in a better place. (Fazi) 

But you know we all cried at his compassion and immense joy. Human Dignity. Two most important words and reminders for any mental image you paint when you think of prison. 

In there we remind each other and the inmates that we are all more than the identifiers placed on us from childhood, past mistakes, written records, and circumstances out of our control. 

I think of the quote, “each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done,” by Bryan Stevenson, Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative (look it up, awesome work). Give some grace to yourself today. 

It is the greatest privilege of my life to know the names of each guy in our class and listen to their authentic questions in a space where safety is not always promised. Caitlin, the previous songwriting instructors, and the Cultural Arts Alliance have cultivated such a special culture in these classes and I felt the palpable trust in the room. 

On the day before the final concert of our cohort in August, Caitlin and I met up at local DeFuniak coffee shop–Perla–on a quest to write a song inspired by our time at Walton Correctional Institution. I found a shaded spot under a gazebo that had a plaque reading, “The Opinion Place.” I thought to myself, do I have some opinions!

I started a song titled Saint Walton inspired to reflect a figure who walks the hollow halls of the prison dorms at WCI, hears their whispered prayers, and understands the loneliness of incarceration. 

The chorus blessing goes like this: 

Saint Walton 

For the lifers, first-timers, growing thin 

Prison’s Patron 

When you’re aching, or faking to fit in 

There’s a harder road you can go inside your mind 

You don’t have to know or sell your soul to believe this time 

Saint Walton, 

Please Watch Over Them 

Since my time assisting and teaching in Walton C.I., I have been reminded of the sacred ground of the circles we formed as a class, and the conversations shared still loop in my mind. Every time I sing Saint Walton, I carry their voices and stories with me. I think that is true for most influential people in our lives–we carry them with us. 

To the men inside–thank you all for serving me in ways I could’ve never predicted, and for daring to welcome a newbie in with kindness and patience. You have changed me for good. 

You truly are the most teachable and eager-to-grow students in the whole state of Florida (and I once was one of those students ;). I am a better listener and songwriter because of your generous hearts and imagination. Thank you. Keep imagining. Keep believing. Keep holding on to hope. It is alive! 

If you’re reading this from WCI, I’ll see you soon and think of you always! 

If you’re not reading this from WCI, this is your official invitation to the next prison program concert and if you can’t make that, let’s grab coffee and grow this amazing Cultural Arts Alliance program together. 

My cup overflows, 

Sammi Accola-Sous! 

Saint Walton, remember every man.