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By Joe Schwartz

The role that dialogue plays in understanding crime, justice and other social issues can’t be emphasized enough. What’s unique about Inside-Out is that it isn’t a top-down learning experience. Rather, it is a method of learning alongside and from one another. Over the last year, Inside-Out has cast a broader net to bring the program to law enforcement agencies and potentially to many more law schools around the country. On January 28, 2023, a group of nine formerly-incarcerated men and women met with 12 prosecutors from the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office for two hours to enter into dialogue about issues of crime and justice. The workshop was entitled: “Justice Is As Justice Does.”

I’ve been home for three years now, and the opportunity to examine my experience through a different lens was what I found in this workshop. For me, the relationship between prosecutors and defendants has always been adversarial. During our small group exchanges, I discovered a more humane approach on the part of these prosecutors. Beyond investigative reporting and media coverage, a shift seems to be underway in mainstream culture about how we address crime. 

Sharing a wide range of experiences is where ideas can percolate. Nothing supports understanding better than belonging to a community that wants to contribute to the changing narrative of justice in America. 

Our discussions included diversionary programs like youth and mental health courts, restorative justice interventions, and mentoring programs. In the face of increased homicides and shootings, conversations that challenge ideologies of the past are more relevant and needed than ever. Escalating problems of discrimination based upon race, class, and gender are the wake-up call none of us can ignore. Education, open dialogue, and sharing experiences create a platform for otherwise unheard ideas, providing a potential path forward. This conversation was a step in that direction.

 

By Andrea Zittlau, Brenda Kucirka, and Jayne Thompson

In the fall of 2022, SCI Waymart offered two creative workshops: one instructed by St. Joseph University’s Ann Green and Betsy Linehan and one facilitated by Widener University’s Dr. Brenda Kucirka and Jayne Thompson together with Dr. Andrea Zittlau from Rostock University in Rostock, Germany. Both writing workshops were conducted at SCI Waymart near Scranton, PA. Superintendent Wahl, whom the Widener crew knew from his work at SCI Chester, was most welcoming and Principal Michelle Lipko kindly organized the day by inviting 20 participants and providing a lunch that was delivered to the classroom. From Brenda’s intention-setting, through Andrea’s intensely creative writing exercises, and up until the final good-byes, the day held multiple joys and the writers produced some phenomenal work. Together we wrote ghost stories, short biographical sketches, poetry, collective short fiction, and created origami cubes. Most of the exercises resulted in collectively written works, such as the following poem from a series of “transformations”:

Let’s trade in all our judging for appreciation
Let’s trade in all our ideas for appreciation
Let’s trade in all our money for appreciation
Let’s trade in all our belongings for appreciation
Let’s trade in all our belongings for gratitude
Let’s burn all our belongings for gratitude
Let’s burn all of our wrongdoings for gratitude
Let’s change all of our wrongdoings for the better
Let’s change all of our wrongs for the better
Let’s change all of our fears for the better
Let’s change all of our lives for the better

We see openness and accommodation of someone else’s understanding of the world as central to these workshops. The individual’s understanding of the world will be their own and not changed to fit other people’s expectations and the sometimes clichéd narratives of “good and evil” that the public is used to seeing in the media. Our workshops work against that narrative and help the writer to move beyond artificial boundaries. We teach listening and cooperation with collective writing exercises, which are at the center of our workshops, as we grow and learn in constant conversation and exchange with each other. Overall, we make sure that there are many possibilities to laugh and to simply enjoy the activities without pressure and competition. The Transformation poems are a good manifestation of this method. They reveal the different voices, not creating an argument, but beautiful conversations that reveal the complexity of each individual voice:

Life is movement and rest.
Life is movement and growth.
Life is suffering and growth.
Pain is suffering and growth. 
Existence is suffering and growth.
Existence is suffering and adaptation.
Love is suffering and adaptation.
Hate is suffering and adaptation.
Love is suffering and sacrifice.
Love is to suffer and to sacrifice.
Love is to give and take.

At the event, both inside and outside students gave speeches, received certificates, and enjoyed a post-award reception. One of the inside students even composed and performed original music for the program.

“The closing ceremony was the highlight of my career at UNT,” said Haley Zettler, assistant professor and organizer of the UNT program. “Everyone was able to see the hard work that the students put into the semester, and how much they grew as individuals and as a group. The emotions were felt by all in attendance, and I could not be prouder of my students.”

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Led by Matt DelSesto ’12, Boston College undergraduates are learning side-by-side with incarcerated students at a local prison, with mutually beneficial results. DelSesto is the driving force behind two educational programs run in collaboration with Boston College: The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, which brings students from BC and incarcerated individuals together to study criminal justice, and the newly-launched College Pathways Program, which prepares incarcerated men and women to navigate the logistics of higher education upon their release.

A part-time faculty member in the sociology department, DelSesto coordinates and teaches in both programs, strengthening Boston College’s connection with the wider community and opening up access to transformative learning experiences for students of all backgrounds.

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Faith E. Lutze is a Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University. Her current research interests include police use of lethality, risk assessments, and strangulation supplements, the use of peer support specialists in drug courts, and implementation of work programs in prison environments. Dr. Lutze has published the results of her research in a book as well as numerous peer-reviewed journals related to criminal justice, rehabilitation and reentry, and gender-based violence. She teaches courses on gender and justice, violence toward women, institutional and community corrections, and is a certified instructor for The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program. She is active in the community supporting violence prevention programs, promoting social justice, and serving her community as an emergency medical technician (EMT). 

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UPCOMING EVENT:

California Luthern University

“The Power of Education and Life-Changing Experiences Behind Prison Walls”

Lori Pompa, founder and executive director of The Inside-Out Center at Temple University, along with justice-impacted trainers (formerly incarcerated), will discuss the power of education behind prison walls and share their inspiring life stories. 

College of Arts and Sciences Dean's Lecture Series

Thursday, Mar. 2, 2023 at 5:30 pm
Lundring Events Center
Learn More

Coe College has received a $15,350 Institutionalizing Community-Based Pedagogies grant from the Associated Colleges of the Midwest. The grant will support the creation of a new Prison Learning Initiative (PLI) at Coe which will provide a range of high-impact experiences for students and community members to learn about and become involved with the criminal-legal system in Iowa and the Midwest.

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Nineteen students recently celebrated their successful completion of the inaugural Inside-Out Prison Exchange course at the Northeast Reintegration Center, a minimum security women's prison in Cleveland. Jointly hosted by John Carroll University and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, the collaborative learning opportunity brought nine “outside students” who traveled from the JCU campus together with ten “inside students” incarcerated at the facility. Emphasizing collaboration and dialogue, the semester-long course equipped students to become active problem solvers and engaged citizens.

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Upcoming Trainings 

All 2023 trainings are virtual.
Below are the upcoming training dates for our 2023 season.


#86: May 15 to May 20 (Virtual) 
#87: June 5 to June 10 (Virtual) 
#88: June 19 to June 24 (Virtual) 
#89: July 10 to July 15 (Virtual) 
#90: July 24 to July 29 (Virtual) 
#91: August 7 to August 12 (Virtual)

 
  • All 2023 trainings will be held virtually.
  • Formerly incarcerated coaches were hired and will continue to be a central component of the training experience.
  • It may seem somewhat counterintuitive to hold online trainings for an experience that, by its nature, is so hands-on, however, to date we have held 17 virtual trainings and they have been very successful. 
  • If we determine that any of the trainings can be held in person, we will get the word around immediately.
  • Please share the training brochure below with those in your network who may be interested in becoming involved
  • If you are attending a conference in the next year, please consider sharing the information about the Inside-Out trainings with your colleagues and network.
  • We have held several trainings that were focused on an individual university's interest in expanding what they can offer to their students. We are more than happy to work with other universities to develop a specialized training that meets their needs.  

Please contact us at inside-out.trainings@temple.edu and we will respond to your inquiry in a timely fashion.
 
Download 2023 Training Brochure
Visit the Training Webpage
Thanks for reading our newsletter! We look forward to the continued sharing of Inside-Out stories that connect and inspire our community. Are you interested in adding an article or link to a news piece in our next newsletter? Send all suggestions to inside-out.news@temple.edu.
 
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Dept. of Criminal Justice
1115 Polett Walk
Temple University
Philadelphia, PA 19122

Phone: 215-204-5163
Email: inside-out.news@temple.edu

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