Cozine Welch

Cozine A. Welch, Jr. is a formerly incarcerated writer, educator, poet, and musician and current Program Coordinator for the Michigan Collaborative to End Mass Incarceration. Incarcerated at the age of 17, Cozine was sentenced to 22-40 years of prison within the Michigan Department of Corrections. While incarcerated, Cozine attained his associates degree and became the most published writer in the long and storied history of The Michigan Review of Prisoner Creative Writing (Lit Review), an annual publication of the University of Michigan’s (UofM) Prison Creative Arts Program (PCAP) having appeared in 12 consecutive volumes.
Soon after his release in 2017, Cozine became an instructor at UofM alongside Dr. Ashley Lucas of the Atonement Project and Theatre & Incarceration courses, classes that focus on restorative justice, reconciliation, atonement, and the role the arts play in healing and personal growth for those incarcerated. Cozine also simultaneously became the Managing Editor of The Michigan Review of Prisoner Creative Writing, as well as a Consultant and Researcher with the Carceral State Research Project of the University of Michigan. Following his service at PCAP, in the spring of 2020 Cozine then began to serve as the Executive Director of the Washtenaw County nonprofit A Brighter Way at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and government shutdown. Serving a particularly vulnerable population of citizens during an unimaginably difficult time.

A firm supporter of what he calls active equality (gender, racial, social, mental health advocacy, etc) in underserved communities, Cozine now works to provide thoughtful and effective assistance to our family and friends inside the walls and returning home as well as to provide insight, understanding, guidance, and assistance to friends, allies, and organizations alike.