All the Wiser

Abstract

This article examines instructor training for The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program®, an organization that brings “outside” college students into prison, joining incarcerated men and women who become “inside students” for an undergraduate course. Ethnographic data revealed a purposeful stigma reversal for a group of men serving life sentences and a concomitant shift in moral career for instructor trainees. Through structured encounters with these men, trainees come to see, speak, and behave in ways that subvert conventional understandings of the stigma imposed on those in prison. The alteration of self and perspective experienced during the training drives participants to incorporate this activist ethos into their own teaching.

A Meta-Analysis of Public Attitudes Toward Ex-Offenders

“…Research with other stigmatized populations, such as adults with mental illnesses, suggests that contact-based interventions can improve attitudes, although the success of these anti-stigma interventions may depend upon characteristics of the contact (Clement et al, 2012; Corrigan, Morris, Michaels, Rafacz, & Rüsch, 2012). In the same way, interventions such as the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program for college students and prisoners (Conti, Morrison, & Pantaleo, 2013; Pompa, 2013) have been designed to facilitate interpersonal contact with offenders while incarcerated. To our knowledge, however, such contact-based interventions have not been applied to reduce stigma toward ex-offenders living in the community specifically.…”

Reflecting on the Delivery of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Similarly, other IOPEP related research has shown that when inside students learn with outside students, they increase their ability to engage with educational material (Allred et al, 2013;Hilinski-Rosick and Blackmer, 2014;Hyatt, 2009;Werts, 2013). They are therefore better able to better negotiate their own values and beliefs against the backdrop of growing punitive sentiment in society (Conti, et al, 2013;Hilinski-Rosick and Blackmer, 2014;Martinovic and Liddell, 2019;Antojado et al, 2023).…”

“…This brings a richer understanding of the complexities faced by people experiencing the criminal justice system (Pompa, 2002). Furthermore, students begin to refl ect on their own values and biases and recognize the inaccuracies of mainstream ideologies within their communities and broader society (Conti et al, 2013;Hilinski-Rosick and Blackmer, 2014;O'Brien et al, 2021;Wyant and Lockwood, 2018). "Walls to Bridges" in Canada, a social justice iteration of the USA's IOPEP program, has very similar purposes and outcomes identifi ed in this section (Pollack, 2019;Pollack and Mayor, 2023).…”