This book moves beyond rehabilitative strategies in corrections to engage a more holistic understanding of the communal experiences behind prison walls. Behavioral deficit models dominate the field of corrections theory: rehabilitation, retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and restoration. Even humanist conceptions of evolution are described as change, transformation, correction, improvement, a lexicon fixed on a distorted view of humanity. What has not been explored is the resilience and human flourishing despite the systemic injustice and dehumanization of prison.
What innovations are possible with a change of perspective and focus on self-identified stories of transformation where transformation is redefined from the lens of self-efficacy and power to change one’s world? Where we rebuild the lexicon from a humanizing philosophy, and our starting point shifts to the inherent goodness of humanity and the potential to evolve beyond limiting narratives and social constructs? Where we empower those with the most to lose through our feeble attempts as outsiders to reform prison paradigms? Where religious narratives of human depravity give way to trauma-informed praxis and neuroscience? Where community and relational equity replace solitary confinement and isolation? Using an indigenous research methodology analyzing memoirs of formerly incarcerated people, the book contextualizes and identifies the role of community and shared emotional connection among incarcerated people.
This book is essential for scholars, practitioners, and students concerned with the transformative journey among the incarcerated population and for anyone engaged in higher education in prison or interested in constructive change of the prison system.
Table of Contents:
PART 1
Introduction and Prelude
1. Ceremonies
2. Frameworks
3. Cumulative Review and Knowledges
PART 2
4. Stories
5. Breaking the System
Appendix A: EDD Dissertation Survey
Appendix B: Coded Data
Glossary
About the Author :
Deanna Evans, Ed.D., served as a Higher Education in Prison program administrator and instructor for a college degree program in North Carolina prisons 2019-2022. She belongs to the larger discourse community of Higher Education in Prison through her participation in the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison and other advocacy organizations throughout the US. She currently teaches for the Prison Education Program for Adams State University and lives in North Carolina with her children and two doodle pups.
Review :
“In her compelling book, Deanna Evans, a professor and practitioner in the field of higher education in prison, upends conventional Christian and non-religious ideas about transformation for students in prison. The perspectives and stories of her students offer vivid evidence for her argument that resilience, community and relationality must guide liberatory work in prisons. With insight and compassion, Evans shows us how people flourish in prisons despite its constant denial of their dignity and humanity.”
- Tanya Erzen, author of God in Captivity: The Rise of Faith-Based Prisons in an Age of Mass Incarceration
“This text provides a set of lenses with which to better view and analyze the work we do in the higher education in prison space. Evans’ analysis is thoughtful and deliberate, constructing a pathway toward more holistic program considerations."
- Dr. Erin S. Corbett, Second Chance Educational Alliance, Quinnipiac University
