As we've watched the rapid spread of COVID-19 these past several weeks, I've grown increasingly concerned for some of my students -- the incarcerated individuals I teach through the Second Chance Pell program. For over a year and a half, I've guided small groups of students as they study writing and literature. Through online discussion forums and multiple essays, these men -- old and young -- have inspired me as they squeeze an opportunity for all it's worth. They read extra pages, ask probing questions, push for extra feedback. Their lightbulb moments are frequent and focused as they look towards their future outside of the walls of a prison. While the pay isn't great (is any adjunct work?), I would do this job for free. (Please don't tell my supervisor.)
Over the weekend, however, I received word that the current group of students would be the last for a while. These students have faced a myriad of complications over the past several months: reduced hours in the computer lab, lack of access when the facility goes on lockdown, loss of research privileges because someone else abused the opportunity. Still, they pushed through, using the time and tools they were given to cobble together an education, many of them taking classes for the first time in decades. They learned to manage an online learning platform and textbooks; they shared insights about Walt Whitman and Flannery O'Connor; they wrote profiles about their mothers and baby sisters and their own struggles with addiction. They overcame. Of all of the obstacles they faced, however, this virus has proven to be their most formidable foe. As their institutions took necessary precautions, locking down anytime someone had a fever, my students lost access to our classes because they couldn't reach the computer labs. While I know that shutting classes down for now is the right thing, it didn't stop my tears as I graded their final reflections and essays today. These students are always humble and thankful, and this last group was no exception. Here are a couple of favorite lines I read this week: "Writing again has reawakened my thirst for knowledge and hunger for understanding, and I am famished." "Thank you, Ms. Witt, for your help during this tough time for our country and world . . . You have little idea what it means to me that I can attend college." "With what I learned in the 7 weeks of this composition class will stick with me forever and the time and effort I put in to this class has paved a way of good feelings and pride for actually stepping up and doing college classes." "I’m positive that this course has helped me and others get what we needed to continue forward, and strive towards our goal of being a college graduate." Read those words and think of those men, making choices to transform their lives and seize new opportunities. Then think of them in facilities where the virus is already spreading. If you'd like more information, here's a starting place: NPR article about the spread of COVID-19 behind bars The Daily podcast episode about one man's attempt to get released from Rikers Island as the virus spread Ear Hustle podcast - start from the beginning and learn about life in San Quentin The New Jim Crow - a necessary read about mass incarceration in our country
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September 2020
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