It’s a graduate school with concertina wire.
On June 15, a group of inmates received master’s degrees within the walls of an Illinois prison, for the first time in the state’s history. The program, which started at Stateville Correctional Center, a maximum-security men’s prison, has expanded to the state’s main women’s prison in Lincoln.
The women at Logan Correctional Center participating in the program are studying for master’s degrees in restorative justice from North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago.
Restorative justice is a curriculum designed to equip graduates to help people in marginalized communities such as prisons, street gangs and domestic violence shelters reintegrate back into society.
“When I’m in class, I’m not in prison. It’s just like if I were at home and in class. It’s just empowering me to help others to empower other women,” said Karin Hargrave, who is serving a 60-year sentence for predatory criminal sexual assault.
Assistant Warden Stephany Trejos said that even if an inmate never is released there is still societal benefit, noting that graduates can teach and assist other inmates.
Warden Jeanmarie Case added the curriculum requires a great deal of introspection on the part of the participants.
“One woman came up to me and wanted me to look at her paper. It used different Bible verses to reflect on different mistakes that she had made in life. It wasn’t the sort of thing just a prisoner would benefit from – but anybody. It really required a lot of personal reflection.”
The program is provided at no cost to the prisoners and is funded privately in part by a $1 million grant from the Lilly Foundation.
Providing tuition-free college and graduate-school education has had its critics, particularly from those who believe prisons should punish, rather than rehabilitate.
“Some people will try to say, well, then everybody should just go to prison so they can get a free education. That just sounds silly. No, you have got to set people up for success. It’s just a very uneducated society that would say something like that,” said Leanne Childs, who is serving a life sentence for a Springfield double homicide she committed in 1998.
During her time in prison, Childs has earned both associate and bachelor’s degrees. The graduate program she is in is part of North Park Theological Seminary, which is affiliated with the Evangelical Covenant Church. The curriculum offered includes Christian theology.
“I’m a Christian. I found God in prison. … I don’t like saying that, because it sounds like a cliché. ‘Of course, you did,’ (people will say). But it seems like this is the journey I should be on,” she said.
Childs has a lot of questions about her future, not the least of which is whether she will ever be free.
“If we go home, we can utilize this kind of degree in the area of counseling or being a productive member of society,” she said. “I’m still trying to figure out what I will do with the degree. I definitely am a resister. I’m a fighter. That’s just my nature, to be there for the underdog. Usually, I am the underdog.”
Briana Travis stands out among the incarcerated students in that she earned her bachelor’s degree from North Park University before her conviction. She was teaching music at a Waukegan school when she became sexually involved with a student. She is serving a 14-year sentence for criminal sexual assault.
“I can’t tell you what I intend to do as a career, because I don’t know what I’ll be allowed to do,” she said. “Sex offenders are very strongly stigmatized, even within Christian organizations. No one really wants you there. But I could see helping adults get their GEDs. If you dropped out of high school before you finished, there was a reason. And that reason was important enough in your life that you changed your whole trajectory and gave up opportunities at income or at further education. It may have been because you were bullied or you were in an abusive home. Perhaps there was drug addiction. Or you were pregnant. Whatever the reason, it was big to you.
“I used to run a tutoring center. And part of what I did was GED prep for adults. I want people with no options or limited options to know that their story matters, and I can help them learn math and English and writing and all of that. But I also want to help. They should know their struggles mattered, and that they can use that for the better.”
The graduate program enables free and incarcerated students to study together. For example, the class that graduated last month at Stateville included 28 inmates, three newly released prisoners and two non-incarcerated students.
Video conferencing also allows students to collaborate and learn, despite being separated by prison walls.
Scott Reeder, a staff writer for Illinois Times, can be reached at sreeder@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in A new look for Ninth Street.
