Education Behind the Wall – Why and How We Teach College in Prison

Mneesha Gellman is the founder and director of the Emerson Prison Initiative, which brings an Emerson College bachelor’s degree pathway to incarcerated students at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Concord. Gellman is an associate professor of political science in the Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College.

“In Education Behind the Wall, the authors focus on introducing the reader to key issues and processes in these dynamic institutions—higher education and prisons—and suggest more humane approaches to learning and living productively in both.”

• ForewordLee PeltonIntroduction: Making the case for bringing college to prisonMneesha GellmanPART I: Why We Teach in PrisonTeaching Literature Inside: The Poet’s Report Kimberly McLarin and Wendy W. Walters Days in the Life of a College-in-Prison Professor Shelly TenenbaumEducating Survivors of the Cradle-to-Prison PipelineElizabeth LanganPART II: How We Teach in PrisonGenre-based Writing as Empowering Practice for Incarcerated StudentsStephen ShaneThe Logistics of Preparing to Teach InsideCara Moyer-DuncanPaywalls, Firewalls, Prison Walls: Bridging the Digital Divide within the Prison Education SystemChristina E. DentEconomics as Literacy for LifeSally Moran DavidsonOne Foot In, One Foot Out: Senior Theses and Remote Internships in the Prison Space Justin McDevitt and A.D. SeroczynskiPART III: Who We Teach“You’da done that, you’da been in here with us”Bill LittlefieldLearning to LiveAlexander XAuthor biographiesAppendix: Recommendations for further study