Inside Out Prison Exchange Program: The Virgin Voyage - Launching the First Program in a Long Island, New York Jail

• In Event: Women in Prison: Rates, Experiences, and Reentry

Abstract

An Inside Out Prison Exchange course called "Voices From the Inside" will be launched at the Women's DWI Correctional Facility in Riverhead, New York in Fall 2017. The class will engage St. Joseph's College outside students and Riverhead inside students together in a collaborative dialogue about justice, while bridging the disciplines of Literature and Criminal Justice as well as the diverse life experiences of the respective student groups. The course itself will involve a critical rhetorical analysis, through discussion and written reaction, to writings of diverse incarcerated people from different eras, countries and races. The social, political, and economic contents of these writers will be examined. An analysis of the constraints on incarcerated voices will be undertaken. The pedagogy enhances a transformative learning experience. My paper will present an overview of insights, obstacles, and outcomes of launching the first Inside Out Prison Exchange Program in a Long Island, New York jail.

Author

• Barbara A Morrell, Saint Joseph's College - Suffolk Campus