KAILUA — Like any proud new author, Lori Brown read from her work yesterday, sat down to sign copies of her new book and even accepted congratulations from Gov. Linda Lingle.

Then, when the hoopla was over, Brown went back to her locked dorm at the Women's Community Correctional Center to serve the rest of her prison sentence.

Brown was one of several dozen inmates who got to see their writings in print for the first time yesterday as the prison celebrated publication of "Hulihia III," works generated in a three-year-old creative writing program started by a former schoolteacher who one day saw the inmates clearing a Lanikai hillside and wondered how she could help.

"You're not just learning to write, you're learning to change your life," Lingle told the inmates gathered in a prison courtyard yesterday.

One by one the women inmates who had taken a writing class with instructors Pat Clough, the program's originator, and Ilima Stern stepped forward to read excerpts of the latest publication of "Hulihia," which means to turn upside down in Hawaiian.

"I want my words to reach out to those who are quick to judge me," Brown said, reading from her contribution to the book. "I want my words to help them understand that we all bleed the same color blood and cry the same salty tears. The only difference is I've made wrong choices, but have all of theirs been right?"

In the book, the women in WCCC and the Otter Creek Correctional Center in Kentucky (and a few men from Waiawa Correctional Facility) write about what they know best: the bleak prison conditions, the choices that have brought them there and the soaring hopes they have for a better life once they get out.

The writing helps them learn about themselves and others and gives them both confidence and skills they can put to use in the outside world, prison leaders said.

"We're trying to heal their body, mind and spirit," said WCCC acting administrator Mark Patterson.

"A lot of the women have been through a lot of turmoil in their life that has finally brought them here. The writing touches their mind and their spirit. And when we deal with that, the body follows," he said.

For many, the writing offers the first chance they've had to put many of their past mistakes in perspective.

"They've always internalized their problems," Patterson said. "Now for someone to encourage them to write, and then care enough about what they say to put it in a book, that does wonders for their self-esteem."

Visitors yesterday could see the pride as the inmates, many of whom are serving time for drug-related offenses, walked through their early morning graduation day rehearsal and cheered as their fellow prisoners read from their work, sometimes with a tear in their eye and sometimes with a rascally chuckle in their voice.

"Hulihia offers an opportunity for society to have a bit of insight into the prisoner's tortured soul, to look beyond the chaos, drugs and chains and glimpse the beautiful, intelligent, insightful, educated and talented human beings who reside behind closed doors," said prisoner Royce Dulmage. "Look inside. You'll be surprised at what you find."

Like the others, Dulmage then lined up to see her words in print and sign copies of the new book for visitors, including the governor.

Lingle said she wanted them to come away from yesterday's meeting with at least one thought: "You all have the ability to be hugely successful when you get out. And if anyone doubts that or puts you down, tell them the governor said so."

Clough said she's looking forward to working with another group of inmates later this year and expanding the program to include more men prisoners. She's also thinking about arranging public readings of the prisoners' work and, perhaps, turning them into a play.

"They matter," she said. "What they reveal first to themselves, then to their classmates, matters."

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.