Teaching a class, “The 2016 Presidential Election: The Fight to Vote in American History,” in the JCI Scholars Program presented me with a unique opportunity to view the recent election through the eyes of a forgotten voting block – the incarcerated. The experience was a rich and rewarding one. Students were well prepared for class […]
The Department of Education has selected us to participate in the Second Chance Pell Pilot Program! I wrote about this a bit before last year here and here. There will be much more news in the days and weeks ahead. We have heard that our partnership with the University of Baltimore is one of four such […]
Reading from The Maximum Security Book Club and Q&A at the Enoch Pratt Library on June 15, 2016, with (l to r) JCI Scholar Vincent, Baynard Woods, Correspondent for the Guardian and writer for the City Paper, Glennor Shirley, Maryland State Prison Librarian, and JCI Scholar Mikita Brottman. You can listen to interviews with Mikita […]
Guest post by Joshua Cahall Today’s class with Mr. Fotheringill was quite interesting to me considering I have very little knowledge about or interest in Buddhism. Some aspects of it seemed admirable and attainable, while other parts of it seemed a bit hokey. I do believe meditation is a very powerful exercise. I touched on […]
Guest post by Steven Diffendal Prior to attending Dr. Sizer’s class, I did not possess the knowledge as to what distinguished a bandit from an outlaw. Dr. Sizer explained how historical facts differ from those of the folk legends that we have come to know. I came away from Dr. Sizer’s lecture with information such […]
On Tuesday, my class “The Inside Out Prison Exchange Program: Criminal Justice Issues”, met for the final time at Jessup Correctional Institution. The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program is a national program developed by Temple University in 1997, and offered in prisons across the country and internationally. This was my third year offering Inside-Out at JCI. […]
Guest post by Joey McCarthy I would like to say that I felt honored to be able to hear John Peacock’s reading about his life, and how he came to find out his true heritage and roots. Like John Peacock, I am also Irish and Indian mixed. My whole life I was led to believe […]
Guest post by Sig Throughout this semester, I continue to learn about things I know absolutely nothing about. I’m not sure how to feel about this. I guess I’m happy to be learning something, yet sad because I’m 46 years old and still don’t know shit! Much like Ian, I enjoy the act of looking […]
Guest Post by David Houk (Tree) The class on architecture was interesting because I’ve worked construction almost my whole life, and I have experience working with terracotta tile black (clay). I can’t believe it takes almost eleven years to learn this career. But I guess it really does, to learn all that it takes to […]
Visit from Dr. Saul Myers. Guest post by Emmanuel Williams Saul came here and shared some pretty well-written stories. I liked him and the stories that he brought with him. In his story of “Alfred,” he used the woman as a commander, one who controlled the situation. He used humor to bring up feminist views […]