The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program is inspiring students, faculty members and community members to take an interest in the Oregon State Prison System.
The program started in spring 2007. English professor Steven Shankman developed and taught the 11-week course that combined 15 Clark Honors College students with 15 students inside the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem.
Shankman is teaching the course again this term with 11 honors college and 11 penitentiary students. The class will explore some ethical issues in the 20th century by reading Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov.”
The “outside” students – students from the University – travel by van to the prison every Wednesday night for the discussion-oriented class.
All students must apply for the program, said Shankman, who personally interviews all applicants both from the University and the penitentiary.
Before Shankman interviews potential “inside” students, the prison screens the applicants. Inmates are excluded if they have committed a sexual crime.
Last fall, students from the class held a book drive for the OSP library, which University student Katherine Philipson said is poorly stocked.
The students compiled a list of books that the “inside” students requested be added but said all donations were welcome.
In a letter informing the honors college of the book drive, Philipson and fellow participant Katie Dwyer said, “We found that we have a great deal more in common than we might expect … Speaking for ourselves, this course changed our lives.”
Philipson said they plan on continuing the book drive at least through spring term because there are still donations coming in from students, faculty and community members.
Anyone who wishes to donate books can either drop them off in person at 305 Chapman Hall or call Philipson at 503-547-3810 to have them picked up.
Shankman feels that the Inside-Out program is beneficial for both inmates and University students.
“Young people (at the University) have limited experience with some of life’s more devastating realities. (The inmates) give a perspective that you won’t get from a regular academic setting, so you get a truer reality to what the texts are about,” Shankman said.
He hopes to expand the program beyond the honors college soon, but doesn’t know when that will happen.
The University’s Inside-Out Program is part of a larger national program founded in 1997 with the support of the Philadelphia Prison System and Temple University, according to the program’s Web site. It was initially developed to teach criminal justice. Shankman decided to teach humanities and literature instead because he believed the subject could have transformative potential in a prison setting.
Shankman was certified to teach the course in the summer of 2005 following a intensive week-long training in Philadelphia, where the national program is based.
Shankman said it took several years to convince the state penitentiary to approve the program because of the risk posed by allowing young students to come inside the prison and interact with inmates.
But once the program began, it opened the door to other similar ventures. In winter 2007 Chemeketa Community College in Salem began a program offering classes to inmates. Initially the Salem school only had funding for nine students, but an anonymous donor provided funds to expand the program this spring. Chemeketa is currently offering two classes with 20 students per class.
Nancy Green, involved with corrections education at Chemeketa and the education manager at the state penitentiary, said Chemeketa had been trying for more than a year to start the program.
“Because the Inside-Out Program was successful, that started opening up conversation with the Oregon State Penitentiary,” Green said.
University sociology professor Ellen Scott was trained to teach for the Inside-Out Program in March 2007 after receiving funding from the Oregon Humanities Center, but has not begun teaching yet.
“This training convinced me that the courses … offer amazing potential,” Scott said in a letter thanking the Center for funding.
Philipson was impressed with the generosity and passion of the “inside” students she met.
“I have always believed the personal connection creates compassion,” she said. “Now when I think about prison I think about my friends.”
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