First full orchestra performs inside Lima prison

LIMA, Ohio — History is being made in Lima, Ohio. It’s the first full orchestra to perform inside of an Ohio prison. 

“Music, I believe, is healing, and it does restore,” said Allen/Oakwood Correctional Institution inmate, Kevin Karszewski.

Kevin Karszewski is an inmate at Allen Oakwood Correctional Institution, but he is also a member of the one hundred man choir. Along with Kevin is Jeff Hawkins, and he says this experience is great for the inmates. 

“It’s great from all different aspects because it’s great for the inmates to see what a real symphony orchestra is to come actually in and hear it live, because many of these guys have never, ever heard a live orchestra, you know, especially something as large as a symphony orchestra,” said Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution inmate, Jeff Hawkins.

But it’s also great for people on the outside to see what really happens inside a prison.

“But it’s also good, I think, for people on the outside that see this, to understand that we do so much more in prison than what you see in movies or our reality TV shows where we always portray prison as violent or, you know, all the bad things,” said Hawkins.

This performance is a part of the Lima Symphony’s “Healing through music” program. A program that began in 2018 with the intent of helping individuals fight addiction and mental illness. According to Lima Symphony executive director, Elizabeth Brown-Ellis, music can help everyone. 

“Music is therapeutic. Music unites us. It just transcends. I think our place and our the limitations of our current reality,” said the Executive Director of the Lima Symphony, Elizabeth Brown-Ellis.

Bringing an experience like this to a community that is often overlooked and stereotyped gives inmates hope for the future of their rehabilitation. 

“It’s so progressive to have the administration here team up with an organization like the Lima Symphony Orchestra because, again, it’s just not something that either organization is, is usually experienced,” said Hawkins.