Mission and Vision

In higher education, there has long been a focus on individual achievement and a growing emphasis on professional development, wherein the primary goal is to help a student secure employment after graduation. When the focus of an education is on individual and professional achievement alone, students can find themselves ill-equipped to become participants in a democratic society. Furthermore, students graduating from college are often unprepared to think critically about social systems in which they are embedded, and they lack the skills to engage with people across social and cultural differences.

In many parts of the world, prison populations are growing at a pace faster than the general population. There are an astounding 2.1 million people behind bars in the United States alone, the nation with the highest incarceration rate in the world. The cost of punishing and containing individuals is more than purely financial, however. Democratic societies suffer from the lost talents of those who spend years of their lives behind bars, as well as the voices of those who could contribute to civil society. Inclusion of these voices is all the more important, given that those who are incarcerated are disproportionately people who come from minority and economically distressed communities. Click here to close paragraphs.

People who are incarcerated have a realistic concern about being treated as “guinea pigs” (a phrase often used by those inside) for research that, too often, is exploitative, harmful, and invalid. 

We do, however, recognize the need for program evaluation and research that explores the impacts that Inside-Out has on its stakeholders (e.g., students, instructors, communities, institutions, and systems) and what happens in the learning situation as it relates to collective outcomes.

All such endeavors must be conducted with the highest ethical standards. Please visit our Research Ethics document for more information. Click here to close paragraphs.

Though Inside-Out is sometimes viewed as a “service learning” experience, the phrase “community-based learning” is much more appropriate. The concept of “service” implies – and often produces – a power differential that undercuts the equality of the inside and outside students. If any “service” is performed, it is not doing for, but rather doing/being with, in a true collaboration – in which everyone serves and everyone is served. Click here to close paragraph.

Our intentions are not to give the outside students an experience that, based on fear, will cause them to rethink their life choices. Though it is sometimes the case that individual students will express either an appreciation for how their lives have gone or a clarity that they don’t want to “end up in prison,” that is not the goal of the Inside-Out program. Click here to close paragraph.

The particular prison or system sponsoring the program is not the focus of the class and its discussions. While there may be examples from life inside the host facility that illustrate something being discussed, Inside-Out facilitators need to always bring the analysis back to larger, systemic issues. It is these issues – which include the criminal justice system, as well as larger political, economic, and social questions – that are at the heart of what Inside-Out attempts to unearth in its exploration. No activity in the name of advocacy, activism, whistle blowing, or serving in a watchdog capacity can be conducted in the name of Inside-Out. Click here to close paragraph.

Even though bonds between and among students inevitably form throughout the semester, only first names are used and no other identifying information is shared in Inside-Out classes. Parameters are critical to this program, as it exists within a very clear-cut, black and white environment. There is no room for shades of grey. Allowing situations to move into the grey area can potentially place the existence of the entire program in jeopardy. Click here to close paragraph.