Former inmates prepare to play at Newport Jazz Festival

NEW YORK (PIX11) -- When an inmate is released from prison, there is close to a 44 percent chance they will return to prison within the first year.

But a program called "Music On The Inside" is trying to change all that.

There is an eight-member Re-Entry Band of former inmates that is currently rehearsing for its first-ever performance at the Newport Jazz Festival.

One of the pieces they’ll be performing is a song called "Water For My Journey." It is written by singer-songwriter Greg Doughty, who is a formerly incarcerated man who was released from prison in 2023 and is now pursuing his dream of making music.

“I really am in society,” Doughty told PIX11 News. “I was released from prison in October 2023 and this is another step in the journey.. and the journey is good and continues to be good."

Doughty is a graduate of the Musin On The Inside or MOTI program, a nonprofit that brings professional musicians into prisons to mentor those serving time who have shown musical ability and interest.It was founded 10 years ago by Alina Bloomgarden after a career at Lincoln Center.

“When I learned that Louis Armstrong didn’t have any music lessons until he was in the colored waif’s home, I thought what are we doing to help the incarcerated here?” Alina Bloomgarden, founder of Music On The Inside, told PIX11 News.

PIX11 News visited Charles Walker in February when he was serving time at the Queensborough Correctional Facility and performing there.

Now that he has been released, the blues singer and harmonica player has joined the eight-member Re-Entry Band, and they’ve had five paying gigs in the last month.

“I feel good. I never did nothing like this,” Walker told PIX11 News.

And to the professional musicians who perform with the formerly incarcerated, they say they get as much as they give.

The reentry band will be performing at the Newport Jazz Festival on August 2nd at 1:20 PM and the show is already sold out.