How did Shelton get started with the workshops

He started because he was curious to meet a monster.

Richard Shelton, a poet and professor at the University of Arizona, has been coming into prisons as a volunteer when a convicted murderer on death row wrote to ask for feedback on his poems.

Explanation:

Richard Shelton, a poet and professor at the University of Arizona, has been coming into prisons as a volunteer when a convicted murderer on death row wrote to ask for feedback on his poems.

They worked in the visiting room and then he and another inmate asked if Selton could establish a workshop. He went to the Arizona Commission on the Arts and asked them if they would sponsor it

They started in 1974, after I had been working with him for a couple of years.

Reference: Falcón, E. (2019). Teaching in the Prisons: An Interview with Richard Shelton. [online] Poetry Center.