David Moloney worked for years on the psychiatric ward of Tewksbury Hospital and then as a correctional officer at the county jail in Manchester, N.H.
Most of the inmates on the Hillsborough County jail units where he worked 鈥� maximum security and restricted housing 鈥� suffered from untreated mental illness, and quite a few were on suicide watch, he says.
鈥淚 felt bad for the guys, but I couldn鈥檛 show it. You couldn鈥檛 appear weak, or they鈥檇 eat you alive,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t was complete stress every day.鈥�
Finally, at age 26, Moloney had had enough. He had just married, and his wife encouraged him to quit his job at the county jail and go back to college. A graduate of Lowell High, Moloney had gone to Salem State nearly a decade earlier as a first-generation college student, but he had floundered 鈥� and soon dropped out to work.
鈥淚 always wanted to go back to school, but I thought I was too old,鈥� he says.
Still, he dove right in, earning an associate degree in liberal arts at Middlesex Community College. He then transferred to UMass Lowell so he could study聽creative writing聽with award-winning author聽Andre Dubus III.
鈥淚 knew of Andre through his writing and wanted to learn from him,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 think I could write. My first submission, he read a passage of mine to the class, took his glasses off and high-fived me. He said, 鈥楴ow that鈥檚 literature!鈥� He lit a fire in me.鈥�
Moloney became managing editor of the campus literary magazine, The Offering, and president of the聽Literary Club. After earning an M.F.A. in creative writing at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), he returned to UMass Lowell as an adjunct professor in the聽First-year Writing Program. Now he鈥檚 a lecturer in creative writing and college writing at SNHU, as well.
His previous job experience has paid off in wonderful and surprising ways, too. Moloney had a short story about a troubled corrections officer accepted by聽, a well-regarded online journal of art, culture and politics.聽
That won him a contract for his first book, 鈥�,鈥� a series of linked short stories told from the point of view of correctional officers. 鈥淏arker House鈥� was released in April 2020 by Bloomsbury Publishing.
Moloney also teaches in a diversion program for nonviolent offenders that keeps them out of the Middlesex County jail. Participants in聽Changing Lives Through Literature聽take a class at Middlesex Community College (MCC) in which they have to read books and discuss them. Their classmates include judges, lawyers and probation officers.
The program, started for women offenders by MCC Humanities Prof. Jean Trounstine, one of Moloney鈥檚 first college professors, has become so successful that Moloney was invited to teach one for men, too. He recently taught the program鈥檚 first co-ed class.聽
鈥淎t the jail, I couldn鈥檛 help the guys 鈥� it wasn鈥檛 my job 鈥� but now I can help,鈥� Moloney says. 鈥淟iterature is powerful. We discuss the characters鈥� values and the choices they make. Hopefully, they see themselves in the stories and realize they can make some different choices, too.鈥�