Pastor Isaac Scott is an award winning Human Rights Activist. As the founder and lead-artist for The Confined Arts, he spearheads the promotion of justice reform through the transformative power of the arts. His research at Columbia University investigates the use of humanizing language, representative imagery and depictions of people in prison to decrease punitive triggers in the US criminal justice system.  Pastor Scott’s passion for equal human rights runs deep, and comes as a result of being directly affected by the criminal justice system and its disenfranchising nature. Since returning to society in 2013, Pastor Scott has combined fine art and graphic design to change the existing negative narratives of people in prison and of those formerly incarcerated. Under Scott’s leadership, The Confined Arts has connected the personal experiences of, currently and formerly, incarcerated individuals to the struggles of impacted families, since 2014. Through The Confined Arts, Pastor Scott has organized art exhibitions, poetry performances, and storytelling projects to interrogate and bring about awareness around several important issues, such as juvenile justice, solitary confinement, prison conditions, the rising rate of women in prison and the media’s role in shaping public perception. As a result of the impactful work of The Confined Arts, Pastor Scott  received the 2018 Change Agent Award from the School of General Studies at Columbia University, where he currently studies film and media as a Justice in Education Scholar.
           
Today, Pastor Scott serves on Community Board 11 and holds the esteemed title of Associate Pastor at God’s Touch Healing Ministry, located in East Harlem, NY, where he has founded a prison ministry and is secretary of the Homeless Prevention Committee. Pastor Scott also retains the position of the Arts and Communications Coordinator at the Center for Justice, at Columbia University. His work there includes research, public speaking, and managing the center’s public outreach. As a Certified Producer at Manhattan Neighborhood Network, Pastor Scott currently studies filmmaking in order to pursue his ambitions for producing worldwide content that honestly represents the true, lived narratives of stigmatized people. He believes that art, in every form, can and does, effectively change perceptions and conquer stigma. Through his own lived experience, Pastor Scott personally understands the need for realistic representations of individuals, like himself, convicted of a crime in the past. Pastor Scott also understands, the healing power of the arts; it holds the power to transform both the artist and the audience. Pastor Scott now stands in a position to assist those artists following behind him. He has dedicated his life to using his creativity, in every way possible, to continue educating and promoting change.

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WORK EXAMPLES

• In 2019 Isaac was appointed to Manhattan Community Board 11 on the nomination of City Council Bill Perkins.

 

• 2019 Change Agent Award recipient. In its 2nd year this award is given to a very select group of GS students who have made outstanding contributions through their dedication to equity, inclusion, and social justice to the School of General Studies and the Columbia University Community.

 

• In 2018 Isaac Scott and Haydee Lee Scott received the Joe Manns Black Wall Street Award for Entrepreneur Leadership

 

• In 2018 Isaac was ordained as a Minister of the Lord by Dr. Rev. Mable Elliot and is currently the Associate Pastor at God's Touch Healing Ministry.

 

• In 2018 Isaac presented Field Notes on Justice and Practice on behalf of the The Center for Justice at Columbia University at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

 

• 2018 Change Agent Award recipient. In its inaugural year this award is given to a very select group of GS students who have made outstanding contributions through their dedication to equity, inclusion, and social justice to the School of General Studies and the Columbia University Community. 

 

• In 2017 Isaac presented at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site in Philadelphia and the Open Engagement Conference in Chicago about The Confined Arts program and on the impact of art in changing the narrative of incarceration.

 

• In 2016, Isaac testified multiple times before the New York City Council’s hearing committee on issues related to the advancement of alternatives to incarceration.

 

• In 2016, Isaac contributed his prison experience as an Inmate Grievance Representative at a Symposium in Beacon, NY, which was a result of the death of Samuel Harrell at the hands of NYS Correctional Officers.

 

• In 2016 Isaac Scott visited Washington, D.C. to contribute his prison experience as a father with young children at his time of arrest, to a discussion about children of incarcerated parents. Sponsored by Patrick Baker author of "My Father is in Prison," This Discussion was in the 7th Ward, where Isaac had the opportunity to witness poverty in a different part of the country.

 

• In 2016 Isaac Scott was featured as a panelist on a symposium following Ava Duvernay’s documentary 13th  that took place at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Isaac highlighted the importance of language in relation to the dehumanization of people who have criminal justice involvement.

 

• In addition to teaching art with Columbia, Isaac also teaches visual arts to ATI  (Alternatives To Incarceration) mandates at the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES), and ProjectArt. 

 

• Since 2015, Isaac has been given a number of awards and acknowledgements, all including City, State and Local initiatives.                                                   

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Articles featuring Pastor Isaac Scott

A Liberal Arts Education in Prison, Columbia Spectator, 2016
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Uzeeum 2016 Guest Contributor, by Olivia Manson, 2016
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-Interview with Isaac Scott, Resident Artist and Justice in Education Scholar at Columbia’s Center for Justice, Columbia Earth Institute, 2016  
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-Isaac’s Scott’s testimony before the NYC Council Youth Services Committee, 2016
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Isaac Scott mentioned in New York Time article on Professor Dan-el Padilla Peralta \
-From an ‘Undocumented’ Boyhood to a Doctorate, 2015
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Article written about Isaac Scott
-The Turn of the Key by Phoebe Magee, 2015
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Isaac Scott featured in Article and Video -Justice-in-Education Initiative Transforms the Lives of Current, Former Prisoners, 2015
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Article written about collaboration with Artist Gregory Sale in partnership with the Urban Justice Center’s Mental Health Project
-Rapsheet to Resume 2015
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Youtube: CLICK HERE