When folks hear that I train sociology in a maximum-security jail, they typically ask if I’m afraid. Then they assume I enter the jail, share data and rework incarcerated college students. That’s not the story I’m telling. The true transformation isn’t theirs. It’s mine.
For greater than a decade, I’ve facilitated jail applications and labored with people who’ve been impacted by the justice system. For the previous three years, I’ve made the hour-long drive, handed barbed-wire fences, walked by means of metallic detectors and brought the escorted journey to the schooling wing of a Connecticut state jail to show college-level sociology.
My want to work with folks in jail honors those that protected me, permitting me to outlive, thrive and provides one thing again. I grew up in Harlem through the top of the crack cocaine epidemic. Public housing was my residence. The stench of urine within the elevators, the hunger-inducing aroma of fried meals wafting by means of the hallways, the ever-present sound of sirens and the worry of dying younger all formed my early years. But, amid these challenges, I additionally skilled love and safety.
Lots of the older guys on my block had been deeply concerned in road life. Nevertheless, they noticed one thing in me. They by no means tried to drag me into their actions. As a substitute, they ensured I stayed away. They typically mentioned, “Nah, you’re good. You’re gonna do one thing together with your life.” That sort of safety and love doesn’t seem in statistics or tales in regards to the hood, however it saved me.
I didn’t make it out as a result of I used to be distinctive. I made it as a result of folks believed in me. They helped me think about a unique life. I carry their love with me after I step into that jail classroom. I train as a result of I owe a debt—not in a means that burdens me, however in a means that permits me to stroll in my goal and see folks by means of the identical lens of chance that allowed me to stay my desires.
Getting into the jail every week requires psychological preparation. Earlier than the lesson begins, I’m going by means of a number of safety checks. Doorways buzz open and lock behind me. I by no means get snug with the expertise, regardless that I know I’ll go away on the finish of sophistication. I typically describe educating in jail as a beautiful-sad expertise. It’s lovely due to the power and connection within the classroom. It’s unhappy as a result of lots of my college students might by no means see life past the gates.
These males, a few of whom have already served many years, come prepared to have interaction. We break down theories of race, class, energy, socialization, patriarchy and different associated ideas. We analyze movies, query programs and interrogate assumptions. However what stays with me most are the unscripted moments, like when somebody connects a sociological idea to their very own story and says, “This appears like what occurred to me.”
One of the vital unforgettable moments got here throughout a bunch debate task. I divided the category into small teams and requested them to research a textual content utilizing totally different sociological theories. I stepped again and easily noticed. I noticed a bunch of 15 males serving lengthy sentences, passionately debating whether or not structural pressure idea, social studying idea or a Marxist battle perspective was the most effective lens for evaluation. These weren’t surface-level conversations. They had been sharp, layered and theoretically rigorous. At that second, I informed them, “That is what the world doesn’t get to see.”
Individuals carry assumptions about incarcerated people and what they’re able to. However they don’t see these males breaking down theories, difficult each other and demonstrating mental brilliance. We can’t report contained in the jail, so moments like this stay confined to the room. However they’re actual. And so they matter.
One other day, I requested college students to replicate on the final time they cried or heard somebody say, “I really like you.” One pupil responded, “I don’t cry. Crying doesn’t change something.” Every week later, after finishing an task to jot down a letter to his youthful self, that very same pupil started studying aloud to his 8-year-old self and broke down in tears. Nobody laughed. Nobody turned away. The opposite males gave him their consideration, encouragement and help. In that room, we created an area the place his vulnerability was met with care, even contained in the partitions of a jail.
These experiences pressured me to confront my goal. I ended seeing myself solely as a professor or administrator. I mirrored on what it means to serve and present up for individuals who’ve been pushed to the sides of society. I started to query the boundaries we draw between campus and group. Universities, particularly these with probably the most assets, have to be greater than establishments of studying for these fortunate sufficient to be admitted. We’re known as to be and do extra.
All through my profession, I’ve labored to make sure my spheres of affect lengthen past the sting of campus. I’ve leveraged my place to construct bridges by connecting school and college students to re-entry applications, supporting previously incarcerated students and creating alternatives for others to show inside. Educating in jail has made me extra grounded. As a sociologist, I’m keenly conscious of how little separates my college students’ lives from mine and the way my path may have simply been theirs.
The USA leads the world in incarceration, holding greater than 20 p.c of the world’s prisoners regardless of representing lower than 5 p.c of the world’s inhabitants. Based on the Jail Coverage Initiative and the American Civil Liberties Union, many incarcerated folks come from overpoliced, underresourced communities just like the one I grew up in.
But even with this actuality, some argue that individuals in jail don’t deserve schooling—that providing school programs to incarcerated people is a misuse of assets. I’ve heard these arguments, and I reject them. Schooling in jail isn’t particular therapy. It’s human dignity. It’s recognizing that individuals can and do change when given the instruments to replicate, develop and picture a life past a perpetual existence in survival mode.
If larger schooling is severe about fairness and entry, we can’t restrict our lecture rooms to college students with excellent transcripts and conventional résumés. The boys I train don’t want saving. They want area to develop, query and contribute. And our establishments want them, as a result of any college that claims to care about justice, resilience or humanity can’t ignore the folks our nation has locked away.
On daily basis, I’m reminded that none of my accomplishments occurred in isolation. I take into consideration what it means to repay a debt on which you can not put a greenback quantity. I take into consideration honoring those that believed in me earlier than I believed in myself. I’ve stood on the shoulders of people that by no means had the alternatives I did. I carry their funding into each area I enter, particularly these the place others have been forgotten.
One of many classes I’ve held onto is that this: The presents we’ve aren’t for us to maintain. They’re meant to be shared. Educating in jail is my means of honoring that fact.
