What It's Like to Teach in a Prison
Serving the incarcerated is act of solidarity not charity.
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I couldn’t reconcile it.
On one hand, these were the most stereotypically masculine of men.
Tattoos. Muscles. Bravado. You didn’t want to mess with them.
At the same time, they were used to asking permission to use the bathroom. They hated the food, hardly fit for human consumption and not at all nutritious, but they accepted it knowing they couldn’t do anything about it.
Despite the hardness of their overall appearance, their eyes seemed softer, plaintive.
They didn’t say it, but I could sense they were grateful that someone from the outside took the time and concern to engage them where they were.
Prison warps, distorts, and disorients.
Teaching in Prisons
I’ve been teaching in prisons for more than five years, ever since I served as a Teaching Assistant during graduate school for my PhD in history.
I had the privilege of working with the Prison to College Pipeline Program at the University of Mississippi, founded by Drs. Patrick Alexander and Otis Pickett.
Ever since then, I vowed that teaching in prisons would be part of my life’s work whenever possible.
Now as a professor of history at Simmons College of Kentucky, I get to teach a hybrid class online and in-person.
This past week I went in-person to two prisons to meet my students face-to-face for the first time.
