He who opens a school door closes a prison - Victor Hugo
“Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” ― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
Villanova University Gives Back: A Free Education for
Inmates
By Mwandishi Mitchell
Every individual has inherit worth and dignity - Graterford Mural Arts Program
On June 13, 2013, I had the honor and privilege to attend a
lecture given by Thomas M. Arvanities of Villanova University. He is the
current director of Villanova studies here at Graterford. His lecture was
devoted to Michelle Alexander's book, The New Jim Crow.
The lecture was held for Villanova alumni who participated
in the free Bachelor of Arts degree here at Graterford. Because my success as a
writer has gotten around the institution, I was invited to attend as a guest.
The institution here at Graterford is thirty-one miles west
of Philadelphia, in Graterford, Pennsylvania. It opened officially in 1929 and
to date is the largest maximum-security prison in the state.
Just thirty years ago, Pennsylvania prisons housed about
5,000 inmates in seven prisons across the state. Things have changed since
1983, as the bloated prisons have ballooned to four times as many with
twenty-nine. The prison population is ten times as many as more than 50,000
inmates are held in state facilities. Talk about mass incarceration!
Despite these statistics, though, in 1972 a remarkable thing
happened. James J. McKenna, a former sociology professor and Villanova's
undergraduate director, started allotting degrees for prisoners at Graterford.
Within the past eight years, sixteen professors, adjuncts, graduate students,
and undergraduate students have volunteered their services to help inmates get
degrees.
I can assume my fellow comrades who have received degrees
from Villanova feel empowered despite the fact that many of them have Life
sentences. Proud too, at knowing that even though society has caste them into a
lot of demonization, they have done something productive with their lives. Even
now, in my mind, I can see the proud smiling faces of family members as a peer
of mine walks up to the director donned in Villanova graduation apparel to
receive his degree. Such a marvelous sight indeed!
However, the program here at the prison was once on the
verge of termination. Under President Clinton, in the early '90's, Pell Grant
eligibility for prisoners was done away with. Without this funding, many other
colleges and universities that offered degrees to inmates pulled out. Villanova
kept their promise to inmates; they did not pull out.
Professor McKenna was succeeded by Stanly Jacobs, an
associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice.
“Villanova made a vow, and we plan to honor our commitment,” Jacobs reiterated
when asked why Villanova chose to stay at Graterford without Federal funding.
Villanova is the only university to offer a degree program at Graterford for
all qualified prisoners.
Two courses are funded and taught by Villanova each
semester, and volunteers teach additional courses. I had the honor of attending
a Creative Writing Workshop, a small class of about ten to twelve students,
which was taught by Villanova English professor, Dr. Lisa Sewell. Being in a
classroom atmosphere again had me reminiscing about my community college days,
long before I was imprisoned. I was grateful for the opportunity to be able to
show my talent to Dr. Sewell, and learn how to make my writing better. It was
such a wonderful experience that I'm going to try to enroll in this coming fall
semester. The only thing that worries me is the part of the pre-application
that asks: Number of Class l misconducts (within the last four years?) I wonder
if eight is too many? Well, at least in five of the eight I was found not
guilty and the charges were dismissed.
Because the program is offered from Villanova's part-time
studies, it normally takes ten to twelve years to earn a degree in Bachelor of
Arts. Grades are allotted the same way that they are at the main campus of the
university: GPAs are based on a 4.0 scale. Professors and volunteers don't look
at Graterford as a penitentiary when they come to teach inmates. They look at
Graterford as an off campus satellite of the main campus in suburban
Philadelphia. The inmates love the interaction with professors and students.
Besides that, they're happy. Inmates enrolled in the Villanova program show
better behavior, and educate other prisoners who are not enrolled.
The Villanova program here at Graterford is a godsend.
Education is the key to making it out of poverty and out of the filled ghettos.
By acquiring knowledge, a person is able to live productively without falling
into the lure of street hustling, a drug game in which two things are certain
to befall them: prison and death. By getting an education people on the outside
will see the best in them, and realize that yes, they do matter.
The program has fifty active students currently, which is
forty less than in 2010, when ninety students were enrolled. No one is quite
sure of why enrollment has dropped as low as it has. I pray by that statistic
there is no writing on the wall to read. When the time comes, I hope they
accept me into the Villanova Bachelor of Arts program. I want the chance to
make the best out of a bad situation.
Mwandishi (in brown) with his cousin
Mwandishi Mitchell GB6474
SCI Graterford
P.O. Box 244
Graterford, PA 19426-0426
Sunshine
By
Christi Buchanan
In
2011 I received a scholarship from Doris Buffet and the Sunshine Lady Foundation. Mrs. Buffet gives her money away to inmates all over the country so
they can get an Associates Degree. She
believes an education goes a very long way toward helping us turn our lives
around. Piedmont Virginia Community
College, in Charlottesville, teamed up with Fluvanna Correctional Center for
Women and Sunshine to offer classes to the scholarship recipients.
The
college program first came to Fluvanna in 2009 when Ms. Buffet chose us along
with one of the men’s facilities to bestow her generosity upon. Since then it has grown into a successful and
much sought after experience. The
waiting list, virtually non-existent in 2009, has hundreds of names in it
now. This past May, Fluvanna held its
first program graduation. All 19
original scholarship recipients graduated – with honors, I’m proud to say – in
front of friends and family, program faculty and administrators, prison staff
and Department of Corrections officials, the MEDH and Ms. Buffet. That day was powerful and humbling for me as
I watched my friends cross the stage. I
was only two semesters away from my own graduation.
It
has not been easy, though. Taking
classes of any kind in prison presents challenges both familiar and
unbelievable. A prison runs on a very
tight schedule and from a security standpoint, nothing is more important than
count. If count takes longer to clear
than usual, everything else, the rest of the day’s schedule, is thrown off
track. This makes getting to class on time difficult. If chow runs late, or there’s no officer on
post, or your name’s not on the master pass, getting to class can be nearly
impossible.
That
said, getting to class is also an unexpected thrill. Walking across the yard to the school to
participate in college classes – in prison – is the best feeling I’ve had in
decades. With every step, little pieces
of the damage done over my years of hell fall off. With every assignment, every paper and test –
with every class – little pieces of myself come back to me.
I
am finding myself. I am expected to
carry the load, do the work, participate and put forth effort I am expected to
reach the goals. I bet my teachers even
expect me to enjoy these experiences.
Amazingly enough, I do. Sure,
it’s great to know that when it’s all said and done, I’ll have a college
degree; I will have achieved something special considering my address. But what this is doing for my self-esteem,
and sense of self-worth goes far beyond the benefits of a diploma.
This
is emphasized in every class by our teachers.
The faculty at PVCC, and the administrators too, are the best in the
world. Not only do they teach us all
sorts of things, they motivate and encourage us. Not only do they treat us like real people,
they see us as such. The consistency of this across the board has
been stunning. Every teacher I’ve had
has been awesome, and my friends all say the same about their teachers. These are folks who have never experienced
prison in any way, and now have to get searched while their stuff gets ruffled
through. They are also at the mercy of
our very rigid schedule, and corrections officers, and yet they want to be here
teaching us. They’ve all said they love
coming out here and that they’re proud of us.
The first time I heard that, I was blown away. It made me all the more determined to do my
best.
I will never be able to repay Ms. Buffet and The Sunshine Ladies. She does this – gives it all away – I think, because she believes in a basic goodness inside us that can be cultivated given the right tools. She believes that we can change the direct course of our lives if given a chance. I’ve seen first-hand the effect this opportunity has on people – how it’s completely altered the quality of their lives by giving them purpose and worth. It has certainly done so for me. I’m often asked how I plan to give back – or pay it forward. I think the answer to that is more complicated than a few short sentences, but I will say it starts with sharing what I’ve learned about myself. It starts with shedding light –sunshine- on what’s inside and perhaps reminding someone that they are more than just seven digits.
Christi Buchanan 1003054
Fluvanna Corrections Center 1A
P.O. Box 1000
Troy, VA 22974
Forging a True Community
By Jeff Conner
The real community of man, in the midst of all the self-contradictory simulacra of community, is the community of those who seek the truth, of the potential knowers, that is, in principle, of all men to the extent they desire to know. [...] They have a true community that is exemplary for all other communities. --Allan Bloom, "The Student and the University" (in "The Closing of the American Mind")
Prison is by default a wallow in waste. To avoid depression
and stagnation, I participate in the University Beyond Bars, a cash-strapped non-profit program that provides college classes
to prisoners. I take classes (whether they're for credit or not) to develop my
intellectual capacities and to improve my chance of success upon getting out of
prison.
Before the University Beyond Bars existed, I had taken
correspondence courses for many years, paying for them through my G.I. Bill
money. Each time, I had to pay extension fees, since I didn't have sufficient
self-discipline to meet the initial deadlines in the courses. Although I found
I could be successful, the experience was dissatisfying: it was difficult to
study in a vacuum, without the salutary peer pressure to complete and compete
and in the absence of any opportunity to be guided by faculty.
By contrast, the University Beyond Bars (UBB) feels like a
momentary respite from prison. When I enter the classroom for English 3230
(American Literature: 1918 to Present), I receive something that studying alone
could never give me, courtesy of Gillian Harkins, an award-winning professor
who is director of Undergraduate Programs in English at the University of
Washington and the chair of UBB's Education Advisory Committee--and a
charismatic intellectual with a style all her own, who loves Walter Benjamin,
Henry James, and Zoolander with apparently equal verve, to boot. She teaches us
historicized close reading as an ethical practice: a means of care and
attention that makes of literature both the most necessary and searching
criticism of society and self. The qualities of precision, insight, and
sensitivity that such teaching communicates cannot be gleaned merely from dusty
pages in whatever poor excuse of a prison library is available. Thinking about
and defending ideas in a seminar or a paper is, for me, an essential component
of genuine liberal learning, and the UBB makes it possible.
None of the UBB teachers are paid. Instead, they give
unstintingly of their time, expertise, books, and, often enough, their money to
keep the program running. Most students cannot afford to pay some distant
university to grade a test and prove that they've learned the material. No
wonder the UBB classes remain filled with students keen for what it offers.
UBB offerings comprise what we call our College Pathway
courses (this semester features Pre-Calculus II, American Lit, Spanish I &
II, and English Composition II) and our Certificate courses. The Certificate
courses are often enough as rigorous as the College Pathway courses, with
texts, homework, and tests; but unfortunately there's no corresponding
university accreditation. This semester we offer Understanding Family Violence,
Ethics and Decision Making, Biology of Drug Use, Music History, Japanese II,
Intro to Curriculum & Teaching I, Studio Art: Gouache Painting, and a
Creative Writing workshop. In addition to these classes, we teach College Prep
Math and College Prep English, where I'm happy to be a writing coach, helping
basic writers develop their ability to read, think, and write to prepare them
for the college work ahead.
Aside from the regular classes, the UBB also sponsors an
eclectic Arts & Lecture series with Saturday night presentations that have
ranged from a discussion of the physics of sound that featured a performance of
Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BMV 1007, to topics such as opinion
polling, evolution, mathematical modeling of the progress of epidemics,
African-American history, and oceanography. Jake Cooper, a brilliant young
biologist who has taught Astronomy for the UBB and is currently completing
doctoral research on the mating habits of yeast, has given riveting accounts in
various Arts & Lecture seminars on everything from modern game theory to
the factitious quality of the color magenta. (The fact that still amazes me is
that we don't see the periphery in color: our brains just guess what the color
might be; experiment with this for yourself.)
Without internet access there are few ways to get a college
education through distance learning. Ohio University (OU) is one of the few
remaining colleges that offer non-internet based correspondence courses and
Course Credit by Examinations (CCEs). The cheapest option, CCE, costs about
$310 for OU to grade one two- or three-hour test. It's double that for the
correspondence courses that, at best, come with a few marginalia comments on
the submitted lessons. The UBB, however, is staffed with volunteer teachers who
give weekly class time, grade papers and tests, and frequently give additional
guidance in an effort to deliver to prisoners the same quality of education
that their on-campus college students get. So, whether or not students are able
to pay for accreditation or not, in a UBB class, they actually learn the
material.
Although I am a writer and love the humanities (or, as my
best friend, Atif says, easy classes without the rigors or beauty of
mathematics) the UBB offers classes for everyone. To me, taking calculus
classes in here would be like being in a prison within a prison, unlike the
humanities, which inspire me with the accomplished examples of human
perfection, a source of inspiration for my own craft, and a permanent ideal for
which to aspire. My friend and fellow TA would argue that mathematics is the
purest form of intellectual discipline, the basis of much of modern science,
and perhaps even the sole incontrovertible truth to which human beings may have
access. It accustoms the mind to proof, enables understanding of the complex
social and economic phenomena that underlie modern society, and provides insight
into the most fundamental questions of logic, reference, and meaning.
Thankfully, my personal aversion to the arduous means of achieving these goals
doesn't interfere with my appreciation of them; nor does it obstruct the
pleasure to be had in gaining these benefits for other students--as a TA, I
simply refer all math questions to those who can understand them.
The UBB community embodies something absent in most of
ordinary life, and certainly all of prison life: the sense of a shared pursuit
of a goal that is intrinsically valuable and in which each of us has a
contribution to make as well as much to receive. As the vast majority of
prisoners waste their life on televised entertainment, day-room games,
insulting each other, genuflecting before altars, and relieving their glory
days, not of wine and roses, but of drugs and pimping, we in the UBB forge new,
hopeful lives grounded in our common pursuit of educational excellence, service
to society, and the cultivation of individual sensibility.
If you would like to learn more about the UBB, please click here. UBB is a 501(c)3
non-profit organization that would gladly appreciate any support you can offer.
Also, for a more detailed and personal account of the UBB, please read "Time to Learn."
“WOOHOO!!”
By
Arnold Prieto
One
of my life long dreams has finally come true! As of May 9th 2013, I,
yes, Arnold Prieto Jr., officially became a High School Graduate!! WOOHOO!!!
I
don’t think I’d be more excited if Polunsky Unit actually turned on the A.C.
during these hot summer days than I am right now!!
But
as my face splits with a very huge smile, I do not know how to feel, because
it’s just so surreal. I am holding my
hard earned High School Diploma in my hands!!
A feeling of celebration and accomplishment – WHOOHOO - washes over me
again and again.
It
took 24 years for me to become an actual high school graduate. It’s definitely better to finish school at 40
than not at all! So for anyone who is
considering a G.E.D. or High School Diploma, it’s NEVER TOO LATE to get
one! My friend, the Swedish Stranger,
summed it up perfectly when she wrote: “…one can never stop learning!” How very true here statement is! So to her, I
say “Thank you for your encouragement.”
So
be it at the age of 40 like myself, or 20 years old or 80, 100 years old, it is
never too late to finish what you began as a youth! I am a living example of this and from
solitary confinement, no less. If you’re
thinking about going back to finish a degree, do so! Because thinking about it is not going to get
you anywhere. Nothing to it, but to do
it is what I say!
My
High School Diploma (I still smile after saying that! J) was issued in May, but
I was not allowed to receive it until recently!
That was because there was a small financial matter that kept me from receiving
it on time.
Thanks
to my best friend, Sister D, who rolled up her sleeves and ironed the minor
glitch out, with a simple phone call to the school! You’re the Best, Sister D!
Continental Academy has a very good program, and I am glad I chose it. The curriculum for the high school program is
well grounded and was written by good educators with excellent credentials. It has been my experiences that nothing in
this life is ever easy and the program was challenging but this was exactly
what I wanted, for it helped me fire up old circuitry that hadn’t seen any kind
of current in many years! So I thank all
the teachers of that fine establishment for such a motivating curriculum.
In
conclusion, I wish to thank my family and friends for their encouragement,
patience and for their support.
I
dedicate my most prized accomplishment to my dearest mom and to my best friend
Dina, whose faith in me was unshakable!
I may not be able to point my mother or Dina from the stage of
graduation, but I can tell the world about it!! -WOOHOO!!!-
Arnold Prieto 999149
Polunsky Unit
3872 FM 350 South
Livingston, TX 77351