Des Moines Sun

Coe College has received a $15,350 Institutionalizing Community-Based Pedagogies grant from the Associated Colleges of the Midwest. The grant will support the creation of a new Prison Learning Initiative (PLI) at Coe which will provide a range of high-impact experiences for students and community members to learn about and become involved with the criminal legal system in Iowa and the Midwest.

The Prison Learning Initiative will expand existing efforts on campus to engage in community-based research and teaching related to the criminal legal system. Coe faculty and students will support incarcerated people and returning citizens through community-based research projects, service learning and volunteer opportunities. The Initiative also provides the necessary infrastructure at Coe to begin partnering with the Iowa Consortium for Higher Education in Prison. 

The project is led by Social and Criminal Justice Professor and program chair Neal McNabb, Sociology Professor Katie Rodgers and John William King Professor of Literature and Creative Writing Gina Hausknecht.

The Prison Learning Initiative will extend the reach of Coe’s popular and growing social and criminal justice program and, among Coe students, build on the strong interest in mass incarceration. It capitalizes on the college’s strategic geographic location in Cedar Rapids, the administrative home of Iowa’s Sixth Judicial District Department of Correctional Services, with its many opportunities for engagement with social services, community corrections and the Iowa judicial system. 

To allow Coe students and incarcerated students to learn together, PLI will support letter-writing exchanges through Exchange for Change, a Florida-based non-profit organization. Students at Coe and in Florida prisons take courses with common reading and exchange letters about the course material. Coe participated in Exchange for Change last year for the first time. 

“I thought Exchange for Change was an amazing experience and would definitely recommend it to other Coe students. I found it enriching to discuss books with people who had sometimes been through similar experiences or situations. I wouldn't have been able to hear from these perspectives by only discussing the books in class. Overall, I thought it was a great opportunity to engage in a project that impacted the community outside of the classroom. Plus, it was really fun to get to know my pen pals,” said junior Sarah Hyatt, who participated in the initial letter exchange opportunity. 

The Prison Learning Initiative will sponsor a number of events available to the public over the coming year. Among them is a campus and community book drive for Midwest Books to Prisoners, which sends books to incarcerated readers who have requested specific titles or areas of interest. After collecting books on campus and in the greater Cedar Rapids area, students will travel to Chicago to volunteer for a day at the distribution center, fulfilling requests incarcerated people have submitted. 

“Volunteering with Midwest Books to Prisoners has been an eye-opening experience. I have learned so much about the process and work that goes into shipping books to incarcerated individuals at different correctional facilities. I think the organization’s purpose is amazing, and it’s heartwarming to see a community come together and make a difference,” said junior Ashley Conde, who worked with the organization last year. 

Emphasizing active, hands-on learning, PLI will host a Reentry Simulation on April 12, from 6-8 p.m. in Eby Fieldhouse. This free simulation is designed to allow participants to gain an understanding of the obstacles incarcerated individuals face upon release from jail or prison. By “living the life” of someone reentering the community after incarceration, participants experience first-hand the barriers and challenges encountered by returning citizens on a daily basis. 

“It was very eye-opening to witness the way participants struggled to make ends meet with the time and money given to them. Witnessing the distress that participants were in made me more empathetic towards people reentering society,” said senior Coraima Camacho, who was a volunteer in last year’s simulation. 

Other activities include an ArtLinks event, in partnership with the Justice Arts Coalition, during which participants view and discuss work by incarcerated artists and then write brief notes to the artists. Additionally, in April, Coe will host the annual Iowa Human Rights Research Conference which provides a venue for college and university students across the state to present their research. 

“This generation gets criticized for being online all the time but our students are out in the community, passionate about how they can contribute. They’re volunteering at RISE (Cedar Rapids’ reentry organization), interning with the Sixth Judicial District, going on to vibrant careers in law, law enforcement, social services,” Hausknecht says. “It’s enormously helpful to have resources and coordination to support their community engagement.”

For more information about any of these events or to participate, visit the Prison Learning Initiative website or contact Beth Valenta at bvalenta@coe.edu or 319.399.8523.

Original source can be found here.