What is the role of higher education in prison? In this session, NW5C colleagues engaged in this work presented four divergent approaches to the education of incarcerated learners.
They begin with the 25-year old Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program. By opening space for communication across profound structural barriers, Inside-Out courses provide unique
opportunities for both incarcerated learners and undergraduate college students. The result is a radically democratic classroom that creates a site of alternative world-building. Watch the recording to learn about this, and three other conceptualizations of higher education in prison in the Pacific Northwest.

People entering the prison for classes often interact with incarcerated persons as if they are researchers observing the behavior of an unfamiliar culture. Consequently, non- incarcerated educators and students often utilize their experiences with incarcerated students as stepping stones for their professional or cultural capital. This type of voyeurism frames incarcerated students as others, which reifies countless stereotypes and expectations about incarcerated people. Therefore, this session is guided by the following question: In what ways does my interaction with incarcerated students affect their livelihood?

Access to higher education for incarcerated persons is transformative at its core when the classroom space is one of respect and appreciation for their skills, expertise, and talents. Adopting a more explicitly transformative justice curriculum yields further gains in working to change systems and promote healing. In this session, we look at one model for doing this work in a maximum security prison that tackles the causes and consequences of violence and mass incarceration and promotes community change through policy reform. We explore the promise and pitfalls of this model for empowering both incarcerated and free learners.

In this session, we discuss the values, practices and mission of the Freedom Education Project Puget Sound (FEPPS) as a model for building a robust college program in prison that highlights inside student leadership and connections with outside universities as well as the unique challenges working in a prison designated for women. FEPPS provides a rigorous college education for incarcerated women, trans-identified and gender nonconforming people in Washington state and supports pathways to higher education after release from prison.