Looking through the walls

Katie D.

November 4, 2010 - 9:23 PM

This term I am serving as a Graduate Teaching Fellow, working for the University of Oregon arranging events, working for social justice programs with the Clark Honors College and the Conflict Resolution program, and assisting in a fabulous class entitled "Justice, Reconciliation, and Community: New Paradigms for the 21st Century." http://honors.uoregon.edu/class/cres-410-hc431h-justice-reconciliation-and-community-new-paradigms-21st-century

Professor Cheyney Ryan is teaching this class, which is a mix of students from the Honors College and graduate students in the Conflict Resolution program. The class thus far has consisted in readings and dialogue on the topics of the criminal justice program and the various needs of victims, offenders, and community when a crime is committed. We read Changing Lenses, by Howard Zehr, which is a fabulous look at alternative ways of envisioning justice and punishment. We also read Dead Man Walking, and had a three-hour class with Sister Helen, dialoguing about her life, work, and writing. Then we were joined by two extremely inspirational speakers: Paul Soloman from SPONSORS (a re-entry housing program for those leaving prison) and Melissa Crabbe, the Assistant National Director of the Inside-Out Program. Both spoke about the functional and personal aspects of crime and recovery, and how our understandings of ourselves and our lives can be shaped and interrupted by the experience of crime.

The class has been an absolute joy. I have had the priviledge of helping to faciliatate the dialogue in the classroom, and to lead group discussions. I love being in the classroom, and exchanging ideas and perspectives about these engaging and provocative topics. I'm currently grading the undergraduate group's midterms, and am finding this to be quite the experience as well, since Cheyney wants the students to prioritize their own opinions and reactions to the text. One question, in particular, has led to truly interesting responses: "One component of restorative justice speaks to the situation of those who are victimized by crimes. Drawing on the reading from Zehr and the readings/discussion with Sister Helen, what are the main lessons you would draw about restorative justice in dealing with those who are victims of allegedly capital offenses? How would you rectify the problems with today's justice system?"

While the process of classroom dialogue about complex theories of justice and reconciliation are inspiring and eye-opening for me, I also feel that it is incredibly important to ground our ideas on witnessing real-life situations. To that end, I arranged a tour of the Oregon State Penitentiary for our class. On Monday we spent class in Salem, touring the cell blocks, yard, intensive management unit, execution chamber, and activities area of the state's maximum security facility. In addition to the tour, we spent an hour in small group conversations with men incarcerated at OSP, hearing their stories about their lives and experiences.

It is a profoundly sobering thing to be inside a prison. A total institution is an overwhelming and intimidating environment, and to walk from the outside into the prison grounds is always a powerful emotional commitment for me. But for the students in the class, most of whom had had no experience with an institution of this kind before, it was a chance to look at the real-world implications of what we discussed in class. Discussing Sister Helen's work against the death penalty is a powerful thing. Touching the straps on the gurney where executions take place, and seeing the grounds where the thirty-two men on death row are housed changes the story. It makes it personal somehow, at least for me.

The best part of the tour was talking with the incarcerated men. The Education Director for the prison, Nancy Green, arranged to meet with twelve men who have been involved in college classes or other activities on the inside. We had a chance to see people face-to-face and hear their stories, meeting real people who are living out the consequences of our current correctional system.

Next Monday the class will be debriefing the prison tour. I'll write more then about the experience and the response our group had. For me, this was a chance to deepen the conversation, and also to work again to reach through the walls to touch lives: to take education off campus and make it real. Reconciliation can never happen when we allow walls to close off all communication. That only augments fear and misunderstanding, and is something I fight every day.

Tyrone, a member of the national Inside-Out Think Tank that helps direct the program, said "That wall isn't there just to keep me in, but to keep you out." Now we'll continue the conversation, having seen briefly through the walls.