Detroit Justice Center Announces Cozine Welch as Inaugural Formerly Incarcerated Artist in Residence

Photo: Cozine A. Welch, Jr.

Detroit poet, musician, and educator will develop No More Heroes — a performance work exploring healing, intergenerational repair, and life after mass incarceration.

DETROIT, MI — The Detroit Justice Center (DJC), a nonprofit law and advocacy organization dedicated to ending mass incarceration and advancing economic and racial justice, announced Cozine A. Welch, Jr. as the first recipient of its Formerly Incarcerated Artist in Residence for the 2026–27 year.

Welch is a Detroit-born poet,

musician, educator, and performer whose work draws directly from his own experience of incarceration. Sentenced to 22–40 years beginning at age 17, he became one of the most prolific contributors to the Michigan Review of Prisoner Creative Writing, appearing in eleven consecutive volumes. Since his release, his lyric poetry and spoken word have been published in Michigan Quarterly Review, Plough Quarterly, and other journals.

During his residency at DJC, Welch will develop No More Heroes — a performance-driven, music-centered work set in a world 15–30 years after mass incarceration has ended. The work centers on an elder grandfather figure, drawn from Welch’s own lived experience of long-term incarceration, navigating a transformed society alongside his grandchildren. Through spoken word, guitar, piano, and layered vocals, No More Heroes asks a hard and tender question: what does it mean to survive systems that no longer exist — when your body still carries their reflexes?

Structured in three acts —

Now, The Flip, and The Aftermath — No More Heroes refuses both nostalgia for the old world and the pretense that a new one arrives without cost. Welch plans to collaborate with fellow formerly incarcerated artists throughout the residency.

“Cozine’s work embodies the belief that the people most impacted by systems of incarceration hold the sharpest vision of what justice can look like. We are honored to support his work through this residency.” — Casey Rocheteau, Communications Director, Detroit Justice Center

Welch describes his goal for the work plainly: “My goal is that no one leaves this work able to say they have no idea what tomorrow looks like — not in a naïve or prescriptive way, but in a grounded, embodied way.”

The Formerly Incarcerated Artist in Residence is part of DJC’s broader commitment to centering the voices, experiences, and creative visions of people directly impacted by incarceration in the work of building a more just Detroit and Michigan.

About the Detroit Justice Center The Detroit Justice Center (DJC) is a non-profit law firm working alongside communities to create economic opportunities, transform the justice system, and promote equitable and just cities. Learn more at detroitjustice.org.

About Cozine A. Welch, Jr.:

Cozine A. Welch, Jr. is a Detroit-born poet, educator, performer, and musician. Formerly incarcerated at the age 17 and sentenced to 22–40 years, he became a prolific writer while inside —the most published contributor in the Michigan Review of Prisoner Creative Writing, appearing in eleven consecutive volumes. Since release, his lyric poetry and spoken word have appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Plough Quarterly, Periphery, and other journals. A lyric poet and slam performer, he is also an accomplished guitarist, singer, and songwriter, with pieces like “Burn My Bones” and stage performances and writings such as “With Love, From Inside” blending raw expression with music to confront isolation, explore healing, renewal, and the human realities of incarceration.