Unshackling Futures: Abolitionist Teaching and Reversing the School-to-Prison Pipeline

• In Event: Decarceral, Disabled, and Reparative Futures in Higher Education

Abstract

Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky once wrote that “the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons” (Vinitsky, 2019, p. 5). I originally read this quote from the required readings of a 100-level criminology course offered by a higher education in prison initiative. The curriculum, which included readings from Dostoevsky, Lombroso, Hobbes, and Locke, inspired me to critically analyze the philosophical underpinnings of carceral logics in society and their impact on creating the school-to-prison phenomenon.

I grew up in prison. Twenty-four of my forty-three years of life have been spent behind a wall. Growing up marginalized in an underserved community, my first encounter with the school-to-prison pipeline was in an urban public school system in the 1980’s and 1990’s. To this day, I can recollect the static of walkie-talkies and feel the tension those carceral spaces produced. I can still see the towering chain-link fence that hovered over the playground like a sentinel. I can almost replicate the feeling of shame that accompanied me as I stood in line to receive my subsidized lunch. And I will never forget the most traumatizing event of them all: the dismissive stares of educators and their willingness to criminalize my learning difficulties. I was 14-years old when I came to feel like the other—the marginalized child of color who is to be regulated, surveilled, and groomed for prison.

Education holds immense significance as a catalyst for personal transformation, especially in the context of transitioning from prisoner to scholar. Incarceration reinforces the cycle of limited opportunities, social stigmatization, and diminished self-worth that can be found in marginalized and underserved communities. However, education has the transformative potential to break these barriers and ignite positive change. By providing access to knowledge, critical thinking skills, and intellectual growth, education empowers individuals to transcend their past circumstances and redefine their identities. It equips one with the tools to challenge societal stereotypes, develop a sense of agency, and envision a future beyond the confines of one’s previous experiences. Adopting an autoethnographic approach (Chang, 2016) in understanding the scientific or scholarly significance of this transformation is relevant and necessary. Firstly, autoethnography, which merges personal narrative with scholarly analysis, allows individuals to reflect on their own experiences within a larger social and cultural context. Secondly, it enables scholars to explore the intricacies of personal transformation from a firsthand perspective, acknowledging the unique challenges, triumphs, and emotions associated with the process. Through autoethnography, researchers can uncover the nuances of the prisoner-to-scholar journey, shedding light on the dimensions of education's impact on personal transformation, and informing future policies and interventions aimed at facilitating similar transformations societally. This autoethnographic essay has two objectives: (1) to lift the veil that has limited our ability to disrupt carceral logic in education; and (2) shed light on the urgency of institutions of learning collaborating with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated scholars in researching higher education in prison initiatives nationwide.

Author

• Christopher A. Charriez, Rutgers University - Newark