English 345: Prison Literature

English 345: Prison Literature, a special topics course taught in-class and online, provides an introduction to selected US prison literature. US prison literature is a rich field, one that extends from textual moments such as Hawthorne’s “Prison Door” chapter opening The Scarlet Letter (1850) to major modern novels such as John Cheever’s Falconer (1977), which emerged from his work as a writing teacher at Sing Sing prison. The course considers prison literature as an integral part of US literary and rhetorical history; as a vehicle for civil disobedience; as an exploration of socially invisible worlds; as resistant autobiography; and as a genre model for US social self-comprehension. The goal is to provide students with a short survey of prison literature – particularly in the US Southwest – and to explore critical ideas about the intersection of incarceration and literature.

Syllabus (2015 online, PDF) -  eng345-prison-literature-syllabus-spring-2015.pdf

Syllabus (2014 in-class, PDF) -  eng-345-prison-literature-syllabus-spring-2014.pdf

Syllabus (2011 online, PDF) -  eng-345-summer-2011-syllabus.pdf

Contact: Joe.Lockard@asu.edu

English 484/584: The Pen Project

English 484/584: The Pen Project debuted in 2010. It is a prison-university internship organized in cooperation with the New Mexico Corrections Department and the Arizona Department of Corrections. The semester-long internship course occurs in both Fall and Spring and employs a Blackboard management platform as a digital bridge between (a) inmate-writers in New Mexico and Arizona and (b) upper-level Arizona State undergraduates, who provide typed critiques of inmate-produced poetry, short fiction, and non-fiction prose.

Most of the writer-inmates live in maximum-security units, are under lock-down 23 hours per day, and have no access to regular education programs. Handwritten work is collected by prison staff, mailed to ASU instructors, scanned into Blackbloard, and transcribed by the interns. The interns then employ the critical skills they have learned over the course of their undergraduate education to critically comment on the inmates’ writing. This individualized instruction provided by interns is edited by the instructors, transferred through Blackboard back to the prisons, printed in hard copy, and hand-delivered by prison staff directly to prisoners in their cells. ASU writing interns currently coach about 150 inmates who, together with the interns, produce between 1500 and 2000 pages of writing and critique per semester.

English 484/584: The Pen Project is unique. To our current knowledge there is no other writing project in the United States that partners a university with maximum security inmates via online technology. This online internship is a model for development and expansion.

Some of the first Pen Project interns organized the Prison Education Awareness Club (PEAC) to work both within the university community and with the community at large. As part of its awareness mission, PEAC facilitates the Prison Education Conference on the ASU campus each March, now in its fourth year, with attendees from around the state and keynote speakers from around the country. PEAC has hosted, among others,  Kyes Stevens (Alabama Prison Arts & Education Project), Judith Tannenbaum (Disguised as a Poem: My Years Teaching Poetry at San Quentin), John Burroughs Medalist Ken Lamberton (Wilderness and Razor Wire: A Naturalist’s Observations from Prison), journalist Alan Elsner (Gates of Injustice: The Crisis in America’s Prisons), Hudson Link Executive Director Sean Pica (Zero Percent: A Hudson Link Documentary), retired detective Marshall Frank (Criminal Injustice in America: Essays by a Career Cop), and poet Richard Shelton (Crossing the Yard: Thirty Years as a Prison Volunteer).

English 484 supervisors Cornelia Wells and Shavawn Berry host orientation for 26 new Pen Project interns, Fall 2015

Syllabus -  484syllabusspring18feb2016.pdf

Application Information -  fall2016_penproject_application_info.pdf

Contact: Cornelia.Wells@asu.edu

English 584: Florence and Eyman State Prisons

Graduate level internships are offered for classes taught once a week at Florence and Eyman State Prisons. Since 2010, the Department of English has provided courses in creative writing, linguistics, history of English, Shakespeare, TESOL and – in cooperation with other departments – also provides courses in art, biology, Chinese, math, philosophy, psychology, and theatre. The internship operates in close cooperation with the Arizona Department of Corrections.

Syllabus -  eng-584-syllabus-spring-2011.pdf

ENG 584 Online Portfolio (used w/permission)

Contact: Cornelia.Wells@asu.edu

The ASU Prison Education Programming (PEP—formerly Prison English) has been associated with developing, supporting, and often providing field supervision for a network of ASU prison education initiatives. These include:

Math: Beginning in fall of 2015, faculty and graduate and undergraduate student interns began tutoring incarcerated persons at all levels of math instruction at Eyman and Florence State Prisons. Supervisor: Prof. Albert Boggess

Theatre: As of 2013, theater MFA students have organized drama workshops at the medium-security Cook Unit of Eyman State Prison. Supervisors: Profs. Stephani Woodson and Erika Hughes

Criminology and Justice Studies (CRJ 494): Debuting January 2016, ten ASU students study with ten incarcerated students at the Florence State Prison in the ASU School of Criminology and Justice Studies' "Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program." Supervisor: Prof. Kevin Wright

Theatre (THE 514 / ENG 584): Beginning January 2015, in cooperation with Pima Prevention Program’s Arizona Collegiate High School, this initiative is developing a community theater pilot project for children of incarcerated parents. Supervisor: Prof. Stephani Woodson

Art (ARP 484/584): The Prison Drawing Project at the ASU Herberger School of Art, modeled after the Pen Project, provides long-distance art education to prisoners at the maximum-security Browning Unit of Eyman State Prison. Supervisor: Prof. Janice Pittsley

Biology (BIO 584): A teaching group of ASU graduate students from the School of Life Sciences organize an introductory biology course at the maximum-security Browning Unit of Eyman State Prison. Supervisor: Prof. Tsafrir Mor

Philosophy (PHI 584): Philosophy graduate students regularly teach an introductory philosophy course at the medium-security Cook Unit of Eyman State Prison. Supervisor: Prof. Thomas Blackson

Psychology (PSY 101): Psychology students teach an introductory psychology course at the medium-security North Unit for Florence State Prison. Supervisor: Prof. Eric Amazeen.

Chinese (CHN 584): Beginning 2013, ASU has offered Chinese language and culture studies at Eyman State Prison. Various faculty supervisors.

Janet Sipes, a Graduate Teaching Associate / Graduate Student in the School of Mathematics and Statistical Sciences at ASU, works with a Florence State Prison inmate on a math problem, Fall 2015 (photo by Laura Metcalfe).

Theater across prison walls: ASU students and Eyman Prison inmates unite for performance (ASU Now, Dec. 1, 2015)

The Department of English organizes used book collections and delivers them to prison libraries in Arizona and New Mexico. The department facilitates donation of hundreds of books in shipments made several times a year.

Contact: Kristen.LaRue@asu.edu

Department volunteers prepare to deliver books, 2005 Photo Credit: Elizabeth McNeil