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Every Friday Morning, 11 UWF Students Head To Prison
March 31, 2022
Every Friday at 8 a.m., 11 University of West Florida students show up for class at the Santa Rosa Correctional Institution. Once inside, they are joined by their classmates: 13 incarcerated individuals.
The students are the first cohort enrolled in the Spring 2022 Inside-Out Exchange course led by Jennifer Brinkley, J.D., assistant professor of legal studies, and Dr. Nicole Niebuhr, assistant professor in the Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice. The course, Contemporary Social Justice Issues, addresses the creation of social justice policy and its impacts on society.
The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program® is an international initiative that encourages dialogue and education among incarcerated individuals and university students. UWF currently offers the first and only course in the region.
“Prisons are often looking for educational course offerings and, in my experience, incarcerated individuals are very eager to participate in an intellectual pursuit,” Brinkley said. “This type of collaboration brings so much joy to everyone involved, and it’s important for communities to invest in programs that help with re-entry, as incarcerated individuals will be joining our communities again at the end of their sentence. I am proud that UWF has been willing to step in and provide educational programming for incarcerated individuals, and to allow UWF students to be a part of this important endeavor.”
Brinkley and Niebuhr underwent a rigorous, 40-hour training course in early 2021 to gain eligibility for instructing an Inside-Out course, and joined forces to co-teach the first offering in the Spring 2022 semester.
Kayla Reid, a criminal justice graduate student, said she joined the course to participate in the unique opportunity to hear new perspectives within the criminal justice system and to expand her classroom learning through conversations with those who have lived the experience.
“Hearing the perspectives of individuals who are currently incarcerated is important,” Reid said. “I’m appreciating the discussions, and I believe the class is a good human experience. They come into class through one door, we come in another, but we all get to sit as students together.”
Sarah Goldberg, junior legal studies major, said the course provided an irresistible opportunity to pursue her interest in the prison system and prison reform topics.
“The most impactful part of the course so far has been the dismantling of my implicit bias,” she said. “Incarcerated people have been so ‘othered’ by society that we are taught to view them as inferior in every sense of the word. Having meaningful, important, eye-opening conversations with the inside-out students fosters a sense of understanding and connection you wouldn’t expect to have with someone whose life looks so different from your own. It’s truly been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Comments
4 Responses to “Every Friday Morning, 11 UWF Students Head To Prison”
Love this idea. The students should be brought to the violent career offender housing to see how large the population is and how they act. Should be a requirement to attempt to interview the offenders then write a paper on all the people the offenders victimized throughout their life along with all the resources and effort needed to find, prosecute and house each offender. This will do a great thing to the young college minds. They should do a request to see all the cases the violent offenders were involved in and do in depth analysis on the cases.
Perhaps at the end of the program, the new age, amazing woke minds will realize the importance of the prison system, police, and the courts. Violent career felony offenders do not care about who you are or your status. Will be interesting to see how many could actually complete the program.
Hope all are successful in their endeavors.
Even if nothing else is accomplished these students will get an up-close look at prison life. I think if every young person was educated on the U.S. criminal system they would do whatever it takes to avoid getting involved in criminal behavior.
Too many young folks end up offending, and find themselves in prison. For instance, it may be attractive to a person to own a weapon. But when they are arrested for mishandling the weapon (whether by improper concealment or by actual use in the committing of a crime) the result may be something that will haunt them for a long time. A felony on your record will hinder you in your life pursuits – can’t get a job, can’t vote, can no longer possess a weapon, etc. It can lead to further life of crime., which eventually lands you in prison.
I think firsthand knowledge of what goes on behind bars may be a strong incentive to stay out of our criminal justice system.
I think this is a wonderful way to gain some insight. I think society forgets that, for the most part, the criminal retention system is supposed to rehabilitate offenders. Of course, that is not the case for lifers or those incarcerated to keep them separated from society. But, for the lesser offenders, the whole idea is to allow them the resources to learn to do better. Offenders who come out of prison with a lesser footing in the world than they went in, are bound to reoffend. Not every offender will be reached, but having programs that maybe reach one wayward young person, that would be worth it.
This is great. Hopefully these students, Dr. And JD will further assist the 13 incarcerated people upon their release. Since it’s not the systems job to care for people once their released from prison after serving their sentence, the students and Dr, JD. will be waiting with open hearts, open arms and open homes. Glad to see the intellectuals are finally putting their money where their mouths are and opening their homes up to newly released individuals. This will alleviate the burden on the government and shift it to the individual where it rightfully belongs. Hopefully it will assist those who want to succeed.
Best of luck to all involved! Great story!