Unlocking Learning

Justin McDevitt is the director of the Women’s College Partnership, a collaboration between the Notre Dame Programs for Education in Prison at the University of Notre Dame, Marian University, and the Bard Prison Initiative. He also served as assistant director for alumni affairs and reentry for the Moreau College Initiative, an NDPEP program run in partnership with Holy Cross College. He is the cofounder and executive director of Life Outside, a not-for-profit reentry organization based in South Bend, Indiana. 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 at the Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College.

“A thoughtful, thorough, and well-organized look into education in prison. (The Editors) have covered a substantial amount of ground so that whether the reader is well-versed in higher education, criminal justice, criminology, sociology, or not, they can open the book, which begins at the inception of education in prison, and learn about the evolution and practical challenges, constraints and success of education globally. This piece provides an incredibly important and insightful look into education in prison and leaves the reader with much to contemplate and a critical lens into considering what’s next for the fields of both education and criminology.”

• List of IllustrationsForewordJustin WatsonAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: What We Can Learn from Education in Prison in Comparative ContextMneesha Gellman and Justin McDevittPART I: CONTEXTUALIZING EDUCATION IN PRISON1: The Long History of College-in-PrisonMax Kenner2: The Work of Restoration: How to Educate When Education FailsMaria K. McKennaPART II: INNOVATIONS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING BEHIND THE WALL3: College Now!: A Public University Goes behind the Wall in Mexico CityNatasha Bidault Mniszek4: Education and Training in Austrian Prisons: Essential Pieces in the Reintegration PuzzleWalter Hammerschick5: Learning behind Bars: Education and Reintegration in Dutch PrisonsChester Lee6: Evaluating Education in Norwegian Prisons: Research-Based ApproachesLise Øen Jones, Torfinn Langelid, Terje Manger, Paal Breivik, and Arve Asbjørnsen7: Who Benefits Most from Correctional Education? A View from SlovakiaSilvia Lukácová, Dominika Temiaková, and Marek Lukác8: Preparing for Release: Academic and Vocational Education for Incarcerated Persons in Polish Executive Criminal LawGrzegorz A. SkrobotowiczPART III: CHALLENGING THE SILENCING OF MARGINALIZED VOICES9: Authorship in Prison: Stories of Identity, Resilience, and Renewal from El SalvadorJennifer Coreas10: Rethinking Education and Mediation for Incarcerated Immigrants in ItalyMaria Garro, Massimiliano Schirinzi, Gioacchino Lavanco, and Michelangelo Capitano11: Effectiveness of Peer Learning and Peer Support in Prison: An International Realist Review of Outcomes, Mechanisms, and Contextual FactorsDorien Brosens, Silke Marynissen, and Liesbeth De DonderConclusion: Drawing Lessons from Comparative Education in PrisonJustin McDevitt and Mneesha GellmanContributorsIndex