Hi Kearney,

 

Thanks for the opportunity to respond to your very thought provoking
questions.  Since I suspect we have very different philosophical
viewpoints on working with incarcerated populations, I am happy to see
that you are genuinely open to dialoguing with me.   And I thank other
individuals (Esther, Donna, and Janet) who have already been very
articulate in providing some specific examples to your questions. 

 

I'll admit that until I actually started teaching in a prison, I, too,
might have subscribed to the "criminals make their own bed" theory.
Only now I have first hand accounts not only from the women themselves,
but from my friends who are lawyers that make me question that theory.
I also might have believed that prison was supposed to be about
punishment as you suggest, but I no long prescribe to that theory.
There used to be a prevailing concept in this country that prison was
about rehabilitation.  Sentencing was the punishment, not your
day-to-day existence in prison.  You were sentenced to a certain amount
of time away from the "free" world.  You were supposed to spend time in
prison working toward rehabilitation.  You were disenfranchised while
imprisoned, but once you returned to society the right to vote was
restored to you (this isn't always the case now).  You were not to be
denied medical treatment and preventative care.  These are rights that
many women do not possess once they are incarcerated.  The reformatory
movement for women in this country began in 1869 (this is when the first
statutory provision for separate prisons for men and women were passed
prior to that time they were housed together) and was premised on the
fact that prison was not supposed to be a "hell above ground" as once
described by a chaplain visiting a women's prison.  Nor was it supposed
to be a "tour of hell" as former Massachusetts Bill Weldon once
expressed in the 1990s that he wanted prisons under his watch to be.
This is how "punishment" often gets played out in women's prisons, and
since I know that these women will return to society and be my next door
neighbors, I would prefer that the emphasis not be a punitive one.   

 

To address some of the specific question you pose, I think I'll try to
do that by sharing with you a concrete example of a woman inmate who I
tutored one on one, so I was very familiar with her case.  I've written
about Lily (a pseudonym) elsewhere, so I know she is okay with me
sharing her story.  Lily has spent her entire adult life in prison.  She
was arrested at 16 and convicted on the day before her 18th birthday,
which meant she was treated as an adult during her sentencing.  The
judge in her case took seriously the words her mother used to describe
her "unladylike, uncontrollable behavior".  The only problem is that
Lily's mom had not seen her daughter in 7 years.  When Lily was 11 her
mother left her with her grandmother. She hadn't seen her since.  Lily's
grandmother was too sick to testify on Lily's behavior and in fact, she
died the week that Lily began her prison sentence.  Lily's crime, she
was in the car when her boyfriend entered a house and murdered someone
they both knew.  She was seen as an accessory to the murder.  At first,
no one knew Lily had been in the car; her boyfriend turned her in to
shave years off his own sentence.  And he will actually get released
before she does.  Now, you might expect that Lily would be angry and
take no responsibility for her actions (I'm not sure I would have), but
she actually does take responsibility for making the choice to date
someone like her boyfriend who she knew was violent and abusive.  She
takes responsibility for being there that day.  She takes responsibility
for not doing more when she heard her boyfriend joking about potentially
killing someone some day.  And when I met her she was participating in
the restorative justice programs offered through her prison. 

 

 Just briefly restorative justice programs are designed for offenders to
demonstrate remorse for their actions, accept responsibility for their
actions, and this is accomplished by actually meeting with their victims
or their victims' families.  To quote the Restorative Justice Online
Website:  "The emphasis is on restoration: restoration of the offender
in terms of his or her self-respect, restoration of the relationship
between offender and victims, as well as restoration of both offenders
and victims within the community."  This is a rehabilitative,
restorative approach, as opposed to a punitive approach, and I am an
advocate of it.   Kearney, if you aren't familiar with restorative
justice as a concept, I think it might get at your question regarding
personal responsibility and self-improvement as it is designed not just
for offender self-improvement but for victim and community improvement.


 

You might feel differently than I do about Lily's case, and that's fine
I can respect that, but I feel this is a woman who will spend most of
her adult life in prison because of mandatory sentencing laws and
because with these laws mitigating circumstances are not allowed. These
are laws that have been enacted in the last 20 years and have resulted
in large jumps in incarceration rates for women:  8 per 100,000 in 1975
to 59 per 100,000 in 2001 (Sheldon and Brown, 2003).  I think Lily's
actions were criminalized by a mother who didn't know her and a judicial
process that didn't want to get to know her. (Lily was a straight A high
school student, and after getting her GED in prison she began working on
a college degree, a degree that she raised money and helped pay for
herself).   I think she was working with a judicial system that
marginalized her by the fact that she had a judge that refused to let it
be entered into evidence that Lily hadn't seen her mother in 7 years.
Lily had no money for a lawyer, so she had a court appointed lawyer who
had very little experience and only met with Lily once before her trial
began (resources being withheld-her middle-upper class counterparts
would have been able to get the best lawyer money could buy).

 

I wish I could say that Lily was an exception, but I have worked with
inmates in NY, MA, and I am now getting ready to do so here in TX, and
I've seen several of these types of cases.  I would really recommend the
book the Color of Justice for the research that demonstrates how certain
races and ethnicities, mainly African Americans and Latinos are
routinely given longer sentences than their white counterparts.  I have
a longer list of book resources that deal specifically with how race,
poverty levels, educational attainment, and gender do make a difference
when it comes to the justice system.  If I can find that list, I will
post it.  

 

I also want to remind folks that there was a time in the U.S. history
(as late as the 1960s) when women were arrested and sentenced for
pre-marital sex, having a baby out of wedlock, even being out after dark
if it suggested promiscuity (lewd and lascivious carriage). All of these
were criminal offenses, but it is interesting to note that their male
counterparts were not sentenced to serve time.  Arrested, sometimes, but
seldom convicted.  Women were expected to stay at home and be good wives
(a prevailing dominant social order during that time period), but
instead their actions were criminalized.  So I think it is knowing that
history and knowing how it is still informing contemporary practice that
motivates me to do the work that I do.  I'm not trying to excuse
anyone's actions, but I do want to show the ways in which the system is
more complicated and nuanced than it might first appear.  I approach
that from a feminist perspective because for me feminism isn't about
"society-blaming" but rather about equity and parity for all
individuals.  I'd recommend bell hooks' Feminism is for Everybody to get
a sense of where I am coming from with my feminist approach.  And for
what it is worth, my boyfriend (whom I refer to as my partner and he
dislikes that) said I should be honest and let everyone know that I'm
not really about equality, but rather that I prescribe to female
superiority.  I hope that made you laugh rather than cringe Kearney!  I
hope it made everyone laugh.  

 

Anyway, thanks again for asking the tough questions and being open to my
responses.  You really got me thinking this morning.  And I would love
to know, what does motivate you to do the important work that you do
with your adult literacy learners?

 

Best,

Dominique   

________________________________

From: povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Kearney Lykins
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 10:09 PM
To: The Poverty, Race,Women and Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 489] Re: Bars, Boundaries,and Barriers
Researching Women's Spaces

 

Dominique,

I commend your literacy work with female prisoners. As one who does not
subscribe to feminist theory however, I am struggling to comprehend some
of your claims regarding your student population. Please help me
understand what you mean for example when you say, "in the name of
maintaining dominant social order, certain resources and privileges are
concentrated in some groups, which marginalize and criminalize others." 

Which resources are being wrongly withheld from whom, and by whom?  
Given the notion that prison is indeed punishment, which warranted
privileges are being unjustly denied to who, and again, by whom? 
Who is marginalizing whom, and what is the nature of this
marginalization? 
Also, given that criminals make their own bed, that is, by definition it
is they who have broken the law, how is it possible that they were
"criminalized" by anyone other than themselves?

Finally, when teaching and motivating inmate learners, how do you
reconcile the personal responsibility element inherent in any successful
self-improvement program (which, by my way of thinking includes literacy
programs) with the society-blaming elements that inform feminist theory?


I am genuinely interested in hearing your thoughts on these specifics,
so that I might better understand what motivates you, contrasted with
what motivates me in my work, as a fellow literacy practitioner (who's
not a feminist!)

Kearney Lykins
ESOL Teacher
Virginia Beach, VA
 

Kearney_Lykins at yahoo.com

 

 

----- Original Message ----
From: "Chlup, Dominique" <dchlup at tamu.edu>
To: "The Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy Discussion List"
<povertyracewomen at nifl.gov>
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 1:13:21 AM
Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 479] Re: Bars, Boundaries, and Barriers
Researching Women's Spaces

First, I have to admit that I have been a "lurker" on this discussion
list for quite sometime.  In all of my time lurking I think I have
posted twice, so when Daphne asked me to consider being a guest
facilitator I have to admit that I was excited but also a bit leery of
leaving behind the safety net of reading others' postings and becoming
actively involved in the discussion.  I see this, though, as my risk for
the week, so I want to invite all of the other "lurkers" along with the
regular posters on the list to feel free to post this week.  I welcome
the opportunity to dialogue with everyone.

Now onto the discussion...

When colleagues ask me about my work and the challenges I face
researching women student-inmates, one of the first things I reveal to
them is how I struggle with the barrier of writing about topics and
women who live lives that are far removed from my day to day life.  I am
the one with perceived authority, access, and the privilege of going
"home" at night, and I try never to forget that.  

When I first entered a prison classroom, I naively expected to find
women who were very different from me, but they weren't.  Yes, their
institutionalized lives were different from mine, but I was immediately
struck by how my students could easily have been my mother, sister,
grandmother, best friend, or me.  It didn't take long for me to realize
that prison spaces demonstrate a convergence of disadvantage based on
racial, class, and gender inequality.  All of the women I have ever had
the privilege of working with were arrested for offenses associated with
problems of addiction, poverty, and domestic abuse. Whatever
preconceptions I had of women prisoners, I quickly realized were
misconceptions based largely on stereotypes and misinformation.  I now
believe that in the name of maintaining dominant social order, certain
resources and privileges are concentrated in some groups, which
marginalize and criminalize others.  

Many of the stories I have researched, witnessed, and heard over the
years regarding the treatment of women inmates, offend my democratic
sensibilities.  I have cried, laughed, dreamed, and hoped with my
students (both the ones that I have actually had in class and those whom
I have only researched in the prison archives).  I have been rendered
speechless when accosted by individuals who don't understand why I have
chosen to do the work that I do.  One woman, whom I struck up a
conversation with on a very long line for the bathroom at a wedding
remarked, "I hope my taxpayer money isn't going to pay for that
education program."  

I informed her that for the most part the prisoners were raising the
money to keep classes going.  The education programs had been the first
thing cut when prison budget restructuring had occurred.  "Good" was all
she said before getting off the line and walking away from me.  I still
struggle with the challenge of facing critics and what to say to them.
I also struggle with the objectives of "giving voice to the voiceless,"
"sharing untold stories," and "portraying prison life."  While these
objectives, decidedly feminist ones, are in keeping with why I began
this work, I am not sure they should be the reasons that keep me
invested in this work.  I question:  Who am I to be telling these
women's stories?  What right do I have?  What right do any of us have if
we are not women prisoners ourselves?  

I have begun this discussion by sharing a bit of my story from the
social context of working with women inmates.  I hope you will feel free
to respond to any of the points or issues I have raised.  But I also
wonder about the struggles and challenges each of you face either
researching or working in women's spaces.  What would you describe as
the biggest barrier or boundary you face in your work?  How do you deal
with these bars, boundaries, and barriers?


--Dominique


Dominique T. Chlup
Director of the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and
Learning  (TCALL) &
Assistant Professor of Adult Education
Texas A&M University 
www-tcall.tamu.edu

________________________________

From: povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Daphne Greenberg
Sent: Fri 2/9/2007 2:52 PM
To: Women and Literacy Discussion List The Poverty Race
Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 468] Bars, Boundaries,and Barriers
Researching Women's Spaces



Reminder about Guest Facilitator:
(please invite friends and colleagues to join by telling them to
subscribe, and later unsubscribe at:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyracewomen )

Starting this Monday, Feb. 12th and continuing through Friday Feb.
16th, Dominique Chlup will be facilitating a discussion on:

Bars, Boundaries, and Barriers Researching Women's Spaces

If you have time and are interested, I highly recommend that you check
out the following links where you can find two examples of Dominique's
writings. The articles are not long, and I think that you will find them
interesting and full of thought provoking ideas:
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=828
and
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=826

In case you want to know more about our guest facilitator, here is a
short blurb about her:

Dominique Chlup is an assistant professor of adult education and the
director of the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and
Learning (TCALL) at Texas A&M University.She got her "calling" to be
an
adult educator after volunteering for a year at the Valhalla Women's
Jail in New York. She taught in the "Right to Write" program.  While
her
career has taken her into several other adult classrooms, she finds
she
returns again and again to her work with women student-inmates.  She
wrote a
dissertation on the history of the educational programs and practices
at
the Framingham Reformatory for Women in Massachusetts, and she
continues
to research contemporary prison programs.  As a part of her research
with women inmates, she has encountered both literal and figurative
bars.  As such, she is always interested in dialoging with others
about
their own experiences researching and working in women's spaces.  To
learn more about her work, you can read

http://www.ncsall.net/?id=828
and
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=826

Please invite your friends and colleagues to join us during this
"discussion." If they want to temporarily join us, they can subscribe
and then later unsubscribe at:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyracewomen

Daphne



Daphne Greenberg
Assistant Professor
Educational Psych. & Special Ed.
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 3979
Atlanta, Georgia 30302-3979
phone: 404-651-0127
fax:404-651-4901
dgreenberg at gsu.edu

Daphne Greenberg
Associate Director
Center for the Study of Adult Literacy
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 3977
Atlanta, Georgia 30302-3977
phone: 404-651-0127
fax:404-651-4901
dgreenberg at gsu.edu
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy mailing list
PovertyRaceWomen at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyracewomen



----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy mailing list
PovertyRaceWomen at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyracewomen

 

 

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