The JCI Prison Scholars Program

Author: prisonscholarsprogram_zfjwjl

  • Registration Event

    Yesterday, we held the Program’s summer “registration fair.” I was joined by Rachel Donaldson and two new instructors, Mark Lindley and Henry Schwarz, along with almost one hundred and fifty incarcerated men who were potential students.

    Registration is something that we started doing this Spring, in efforts to institutionalize the course selection/assignment process a bit more. In the past, assigning students to classes had been a bit of an ad hoc process, which was basically workable when there were only a couple/few faculty and enough students for one class. But as both our faculty and student numbers have swelled, it was getting awkward.

    What we’ve started doing is working with JCI (and the hard-working librarian and her clerk, as well as their volunteer activities coordinator) to get as many eligible students as possible into classrooms one afternoon before we start the next round of courses. On our side, we get as many faculty as can make it in, to “pitch” their courses. We usually have three rooms of students, and faculty members cycle from room to room explaining what they’ll be teaching and answering questions. Then, potential students can list their top three choices for classes, in rank-order.

    The actual assignment process is essentially based on seniority with our program – this avoids any judgment calls, and especially any ire directed at the incarcerated men who help us run the program, from students who didn’t get into a popular course. We say we can guarantee everyone one class (and we’ve been able to make good on that promise so far), and we just go back to the top of the seniority list for multiple courses. I’ll take it as a compliment that two of the most common questions asked were variants on “how can I get into more than one class?” and “I didn’t have a chance to take class X last time, will the professor be teaching it again?”

    The actual event always seems more chaotic than it is. We crossed to the school building under a wide expanse of blue sky and found ourselves in the middle of a throng, but several of our long-time students were hard at work manning a check-in table and ensuring that everyone was in the right rooms for count-outs. We had one room that Mr. Greco had smartly filled half with our longest-term students and half with guys completely new to the program, and he and I started there giving a bit of a run-down of how the classes work; then, I pitched my class and a few classes of instructors who couldn’t make it to the event. Meanwhile, apparently Rachel was proving a hard act to follow in the big classroom…

    By the end of the afternoon, I was hoarse from shouting over the fans (a necessity when it gets warm – teaching in JCI has impressed on me the value of small group work so folks can be closer than shouting distance, but I sometimes end up doing my best impression of the people’s mic when responding to questions), sweaty, but excited about the new semester we’re heading into.

    I’ll be updating the pages on this site to reflect our transition to summer classes over the next few days, and adding information about our new instructors. And, if you’ve made it this far, I feel like I should mention – the beginning of a new semester means a bunch of us will be shelling out for stacks of books. If you are already a supporter, thank you, thank you so much. If you’re not, please consider giving a one-time donation via our support page, or making a monthly contribution via our Patreon campaign.

  • Prisons, Health Disparties, and “Going Upstream”

    An interesting reflection on a recent conference on prisons and health disparities by Joshua Miller over on his own blog.

  • Violence (5/2/14)

    So, at the last Violence class, we were talking about both a section on the rise of the Black Panther Party (from Black Against Empire) and on the early inroads of militarization into police forces (from Rise of the Warrior Cop). A few interesting things came out of the conversation.

    First, what ended up being the first question was, “why aren’t we talking about violence in prisons in this class?” Good question. The best answer I could give the guys was that research on violence in prisons is pretty sketchy (at least in the US), and so I was not in a position to teach anything about it. Actually, I am quite interested in it, but am trying to get my ducks in a row on how to actually conduct research. Unfortunately for researchers, the Maryland Department of Public Safety does not currently permit interview research in correctional facilities (and cannot guarantee confidentiality for mail surveys). I did invite them to talk about it in class, but no one volunteered. I also invited them to write about it, so let’s see.

    Second, while I did try to keep bringing it back around to the material for the class, the conversation they kept wanting to bring it back around to was the issue of what violence is, particularly the concept of “structural violence.” Unsurprisingly perhaps, most of the folks in the room were pretty friendly to the idea of structural violence, though we did have some interesting discussions about whether there was a need to draw the line somewhere (so that not everything bad is violence), and about how to understand “local” power imbalances – e.g., one (white) student was skeptical that black prejudice against whites is never backed up by power (meaning it’s not “racism” in the way that academics tend to use the term), because he’d been beaten up a few times when visiting a black girlfriend in her neighborhood. So we had a lively debate about that (there were divergent theories about why I don’t get beaten up when I bike my daughter to her school in Park Heights).

    Third, we talked a bit – and some of the guys had been in either my class on James or Josh’s on Arendt – about the Panther’s use of violence. As Mr. Jihad pointed out to me, it’s telling the story a bit unfairly to characterize the Panthers as a “violent organization,” but it was important to their role that they were at least willing to threaten and use violence in a way that other groups weren’t. Newton’s analysis of the need for armed resistance is in line with the Marxist analysis of the lumpenproletariat – the proletariat has a lot of (potential) revolutionary potential if it can become organized, because it can down tools, break the machines, stop working, etc. The bosses need the workers! The problem for unemployed inner-city blacks at the time of the Panthers was that many of them lacked even this kind of power – they were lumpenproletariat in the Marxist analysis, outside the class struggle. So, on the one hand, the idea that they need to assert themselves via violence is sharp. On the other hand, there’s a reason that Marx (unless I’m misremembering) identified the lumpenprotetariat as the “dangerous classes” – violent, and a tool particularly of nobility and financiers because they share a lack of productive role in the current system. The concern is essentially that the violence of the lumpenproletariat cannot or will not be turned to revolutionary ends, but only lets them serve as thugs for existing power structures. Seen through the lens of Arendt on totalitarianism, there’s the worrisome possibility that violent action by disenfranchised groups may not be aimed at supporting the powers that be, but may end up serving those ends by creating a kind of ‘reaction formation’ of state repression. This is all very impressionistic, but the roots of US police militarization in reaction to the unrest of the 60s makes it suggestive. We also had some splits there – some folks arguing that repression was the inevitable result of non-nonviolent action, while others supported “diversity of tactics.”

    Finally, Josh called me out in the class on the way that the concept of privilege interacts with questions about whether, e.g., it’s helpful to analyze black-America-in-general as a kind of internal colony of white-America-in-general. But I’ll probably have to get to that later.

  • On Charles Taylor

    As part of my class on violence, we looked at the civil wars in Liberia as an example of civil conflict, and a springboard for talking about how civil conflicts develop and how acts of violence and atrocities come to be committed in them (we also watched the brutal but pretty solid documentary Liberia: an Uncivil War).  The students were very interested in the conflict – in part because of the roots of modern Liberia in a US “back to Africa” movement, and also because many of the COs at Jessup are from Liberia. A few reported to me that they’d had interesting conversations with the staff about it, and Mr. Greco tells me that he’s been making copies of my Liberia materials (mostly the Wikipedia page for a general overview, plus an excerpt from Liberian Women Peacemakers).

    Here are one of my student J.E.’s comments on Liberia’s war.

    Liberia was Lord Captured!

    Charles “President” Taylor – War Lord or Robin Hood?

    Fear of rebels and government retribution keeps many of Liberia citizens in silence.

    Getting the inside story on Liberia most feared and infamous war lord was no easy take because Charles Taylor did not give interviews and the people did not know who to trust.

    Liberia is among the top 10 countries with the highest homicide rates in the world. This is a high violence society with a comparable murder rate to Colombia, Jamaica, and South Africa, mostly due to political violence and corruption.

    The US-controlled media say that almost 80% of the murderous violence that goes on in Liberia is caused by the rebels, while the residents say that it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between the US backed rebels and the government forces.

    Why did the people of Monrovia willingly die for Charles Taylor?

    Some describe Taylor as Liberia’s answer – a modern-day Robin Hood in a sense, whose benevolence in Monrovia afforded him absolute control and respect as a role model and President.

    Charles Taylor’s popularity stemmed in part from his generosity toward the people of Monrovia – he gave money to those in need and provided them with a source of livelihood and also kept them safe in his own way from the Rebels (smile). Through his generosity, Taylor gained the loyalty of his people.

    This loyalty did not end with his national people, but with neighboring revolutionaries supporting him.

    A lot of Charles Taylor’s supporters believe he was tricked by the US government in the first place, while others feel he is guilty because they blame him for letting so many innocent people die.

  • A rainy, yet poetic night at Jessup

    Words cannot adequately illustrate the positive energy coming from Jessup last night…but I will try to describe yesterday’s event.

    At 5:20PM I left the University of Baltimore (UB) to drive to my weekly Criminal Justice class at Jessup Correctional Institution (JCI). For the past few weeks 11 of my UB students attended joint classes with 24 incarcerated men at JCI. On a normal day it takes 30 minutes to drive to JCI….but last night’s monsoon resulted in a two hour commute for some of us. As I drove to JCI, stuck in endless traffic, I worried that I would never arrive in time for class. I questioned my decision not to cancel class, worried about students not showing up, worried that students would complain, and was convinced that our late arrival would result in not be permitted to enter the facility. I tried to calm myself by remembering that tonight’s class was especially important and that we must make every effort to get there.

    To my surprise, when I arrived I found all of my students waiting on me! I was moved that everyone made the extra effort to get to JCI, and that not a single one complained! Many students even left their homes or jobs early so they would arrive on time. I heard several students say they did not want to miss this class since it was our last one. After a few more obstacles getting through security (never a dull moment!) we eventually made our way through the prison grounds to the education building where our class is held. Of course Vince, one of our classmates, was there to greet us and rushed us toward the classroom.

    Like every week, our time together is short and often shortened further by various delays. So as we walked Vince quickly gave me the run down on how the “certificate ceremony” would go tonight. As we entered the classroom, all the JCI guys had already gathered in a circle formation. The UB students filled in the empty chairs in between the JCI students. We immediately proceeded with the ceremony. Vince – graciously leading the way – said a few words to get started. He creatively put together a power point slideshow that illustrated each student’s name as they were called up to receive the certificate. We started with the UB students first – the “Future Criminal Justice Reformers” as Vince labeled them. Robby was the first to be called up. Everyone cheered as Robby received his certificate and proceeded to jog around the circle giving high-fives to each and every student in the circle. This continued for the next few minutes as all UB students were recognized for their contribution to the class. Next, the JCI students – “the Experts” – were each acknowledged for their equal contribution to the class.

    After all students were recognized Shakkir presented Vince with a special award for his endless dedication and commitment to making the JCI Scholar Program so successful. Thoughtfully, the students also awarded me a certificate of appreciation. And lastly, a special certificate was awarded to me honoring my child in utero – an extremely touching moment that simply shows the endless thoughtfulness and compassion of this group. The energy in the room during the ceremony was phenomenal. For 30 minutes there was laughter, cheering, smiles, high-fives, and even a few football (touchdown) style dances. It was as if we all won the Nobel Peace Prize.

    To end the ceremony each student shared one or two words to express their feelings about the experience together. Bittersweet…humbling…open minded…optimistic…inspired…grateful…empowered. Who would have thought that in just a few weeks these two groups would blend so well, would work collaboratively, would pull together a final project with limited resources, would become classmates, and in the end would share similar emotions about an experience that allowed them to simply come together and share the learning process. This transformative learning experience is credited to the National Inside Out Prison Exchange Program – for without that program last night never would have transpired.

    (stay tuned for details on the students final projects…)

  • Rehabilitation vs. Retribution vs. Liberation, Part I: The Context of Violence

    Rehabilitation vs. Retribution vs. Liberation, Part I: The Context of Violence

    "Geese are Taking Over" by Fred Dunn (via Flickr)
    “Geese are Taking Over” by Fred Dunn (via Flickr)

    Everyone in the program was pretty excited to see a couple of our instructors, Drew Leder and Mikita Brottman, featured in an article – a cover article no less – in the Baltimore City Paper this week. It’s also wonderful to see some of our students, like Mr. Hardy and Mr. Fitzgerald, being named and given a voice, even if the Department of Corrections still reserves the right to restrict who may speak to reporters. And the article did a fine job of capturing the variety of those specific voices, rather than presenting the incarcerated men as an undifferentiated mass of “prisoners” – several of the unnamed students were immediately recognizable, just from the way Mr. Woods reproduced their cadences and attitudes on the page. One of our goals is to help humanize incarcerated individuals to the wider world – among the first questions we get from new people we tell about the program is usually some variation on “aren’t you scared?” (no) – and painting such a nuanced portrait of some of our classes is something a journalist is far better at than we philosophers

    But, since I am a philosopher, I wanted to talk a bit about the philosophy that I bring to teaching in and helping to coordinate the program, with respect to one of the issues that the article raises.

    (more…)

  • We’re on Twitter!

    Yay? Anyway, if you’d like to follow our work that way, you can find us @JCIPSP.

  • Another Game Theory Reflection

    We had an interesting session of Game Theory and Game Design yesterday, but I’ll let Josh tell you about it (if we had trouble getting dice in, I think the materials for Mr. Twist’s favorite game – Kiss the Girls – are going to be even more of an issue). In the meanwhile, here’s another short reflection piece from one of our students.

    S.T.M. writes:*

    When I first came into this “Game Theory” class, I didn’t understand the purpose of teaching such a class. My first impression was “What could they possibly teach a person about the theory of a game such as ‘Tic Tac Toe,’ ‘Checkers,’ or any of the everyday games that people play. Then I started listening to Prof. Levine and Prof. Miller explain the logic and calculation of such “Games of Chance.” Then I had an “AHA moment” and began to see how these “Theories” are actually used in the Judicial system and the Criminal Justice System. One of the theories, “Prisoner’s Dilemma,” is the exact theory they use in the Criminal Justice System to get 65%-75% rate for plea bargaining in most criminal cases. I began to see how even military leaders use these theories to determine “Collateral Damage” prior to reaching their possible objective. It was very interesting and enlightening. It’s amazing how some of the simplest things have such an extraordinary effect on the way things are run in the society or even the world.

    I have to say, the game “Go,” I still don’t see the logic and purpose for it. Maybe if there were some instructions**, but I just don’t get that game. But the game of “Forbidden Island,” this was not only interesting but it was fun. This game changed my whole attitude about competition in a game. It forced me to restrain my drive to be the “King of the Hill” and change it to a team or community mentality. This game helps remove the selfishness that is the center of our present society’s attitude to one of “Cooperation for Survival for All.” I could actually see a society change mentally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually if this principle was the moral and guiding principle. As much as I hate being punished and suffering for the actions of another person, when I look at the overall picture of this social principle it would be very beneficial to any culture of people who use it.

    Now that I have some insight into the theory of the game, I realized that the “Department of Corrections” is now using this theory as a form of discipline in its system. And it’s working. However, the laws of the “Jungle” still apply, the men of the jungle now apply the “Stop, Think, and Discuss method” before they respond. It has been beneficial for the environment, but they still have to be alert for abuse of power and those who have the authority must remember that it doesn’t take much to wake up the Monster if it’s pushed too far. Overall, I find this class very interesting and look forward to our new game “Diplomacy.”***

    ——-

    * As always, this is a transcription of the student’s writing – I’ve just fixed a couple minor grammatical and typographical issues.

    ** This refers to a problem we had with the Go sets. To get materials that are not books, papers, or other things that obviously belong in a classroom through security clearance, we’re often asked to order things from Amazon and have them shipped directly to the prison library rather than bringing them in ourselves. So, that’s what we did with the Go sets – but we didn’t realize that they showed up without any printed rules in them, and we didn’t think to check the sets for instructions before we sent the guys off to try playing during their “study hall” (we showed them the game and talked about its logic, but by drawing Go problems on the board, rather than with the sets). So, our bad. We did – when we realized this – go over the rules again and write them down with the guys, but it was still a source of understandable frustration.

    *** Sorry, Mr. Shakkir! I’m afraid Diplomacy undoes all the social lessons of Forbidden Island…

  • Drew Leder on Why He Teaches in Prison

    Drew Leder writes:

    Why do I teach in prison? Well, I’ll give an answer (that might not seem so interesting) – because prison teaching is itself interesting. In oh so many ways.

    The men who I work with, some 30-40 in my classes, not counting 5-10 of my undergraduates I bring with me, are passionately interested in what we are studying. This could be a volume of Jungian-style psychology on finding the hero-stories that have guided your life. It could be a book on the latest research exploring how we make (and botch up) decisions. Or the Tao te Ching, the ancient Chinese text for finding balance in a world not even the ruler can control. Or Epictetus’ Handbook, by the crippled Roman slave who taught a Stoicism focused on mastery of mental states.

    Whatever we read, the men are interested, passionately engaged, and ready to apply the material to their own lives. How to build a good life as a “lifer”? How, while serving long time, to have time serve you? How, while being confined for decades on in a tiny cell, in a locked tier, in a razor-wire-fringed maximum-security prison – how to expand space and take flight? The men not only wish to survive in these tough surroundings – they wish to flourish, and need the resources, personal and intellectual, that will aid their quest. So they are passionately interested in our quest-ions and texts in a way my Loyola undergraduates rarely are. (Those undergrads who accompany me into prison learn something about how to learn.)

    And all this interest makes me interested. I can choose texts and questions I really want to teach, less hampered by my conventional menu of college courses. I can converse with men from a very different background and life-experience than mine, and hear their unexpected viewpoints. At the same time, I learn about myself. If they can apply Buddhist methods to find happiness in their (incarcerated) here and now, who am I to mope around my luxurious house?

    Prison teaching is one of the most interesting pedagogical experiences I’ve ever had. That’s why I’m still at it some 22 years after first tentatively poking in a toe.

    “Interest” is an interesting word. Start with “inter.” It can mean “to deposit a dead body in a tomb.” In many ways, this is what our criminal criminal justice system does, with its harsh use of extended and discriminatory prison sentences. But the men – and the more enlightened prison administrators and staff – look beyond this and refuse to be the land of the walking dead. They choose life.

    “Inter”, as a prefix, also means “between.” The word “interest” is actually from the Latin interesse, whose root meaning is to “be between,” and which also can be translated as “to concern, make a difference, be of importance.” (Hence “interest also takes on financial meanings.) The men I teach are “between” – between enslavement and freedom, imperatives of their past street-life, and their dreamed-of future; indeed between life and death, for those serving long sentences. And yet that “between” is where interesting things happen. Socrates taught in that in-between place, the agora, or Athenian marketplace, where people mingled, and he used the method of dia-logue, that is the speaking (logos) that only emerges between (dia) two living souls.

    So, yes these classes are interesting – they exist in the between-world where our discussions, like the Latin interesse,  “concern, make a difference, are of importance.” At least I hope so, and this is what the men confirm time and again, time and again.

  • Criminal Justice Class Update

    Since February our class of 25 students has gathered weekly to discuss questions around “what is crime?”; “why do people engage in crime?”; and “how might we prevent crime?” Students have responded to these questions through a series of essays and in-class discussion. Our last three class sessions included a group of 11 University of Baltimore undergraduate and graduate students. Both groups of students read the same material and discuss issues around crime, sentencing, and prevention. Next week both groups of students will join together to develop a group proposal to create a program in one of three areas: alternative to incarceration program, reentry program, or crime prevention program. Students will present their projects in class on April 30th.