The
Prison Chronicles primarily reviews a broad range of personal experiences I
acquired while working in inmate higher education. The content ranges from news
articles and short stories to photos, art, and poetry. It begins with an early
encounter with a serial killer before I began working in prisons (Arthur John
Shawcross: The Monster on Alexander Street),
highlights my contact with several inmates that had an impact on my life, and confronts
the many misconceptions regarding the importance of higher education to rehabilitative
efforts (The Criminal
Underclass and Inmate Higher Education ).
Few issues polarize people so
quickly and clearly as our positions on how inmates should be treated. Many of
us don’t have to look far beyond our families and friends to see the victims of
crimes. Likewise, however, many of us don’t have to look far to find someone we
know who has served time in jail. Justice is not always a black and white issue
when the law is not fairly applied within our judicial system.
I have worked with murderers, rapists,
thieves, abusers, con artists, pimps, prostitutes, baby killers, and gang
members; however, I have also worked with mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters,
aunts and uncles, the lost and the found. If all I ever saw was the criminal
then I would be denying myself the same measure of humanity I deny them, and I
would be a pretty poor teacher. How we treat the least among us reflects how we
regard ourselves, our society, and our hopes for the future.
The Prison Chronicles includes:
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