Advertisement

The Urban Review

, Volume 47, Issue 4, pp 759–782 | Cite as

Bearing Stigma, Carrying Gifts: What Colleges Can Learn from Students with Incarceration Experience

  • Alexis Halkovic
  • Andrew Cory Greene
Article
First Online:

Abstract

There is an abundance of social science research confirming the positive outcomes associated with higher education for people who have served time in prison (Chappell in J Correct Educ 55(2): 148–169, 2004; Fine et al. in Changing minds: the impact of college in a maximum-security prison, Ronald Ridgeway, New York, 2001; Kelso 2000). Despite the evidence, institutions of higher education continue to ignore the findings, while reinforcing negative stigma and imposing institutional barriers to admission for students with documented criminal records (Rosenthal et al. in Boxed out: criminal history screening and college application attrition, Center for Community, New York, 2015). After analyzing focus groups and interviews from a participatory action research project with college students with documented criminal records, we identified a series of themes, which we have labeled gifts (McKnight and Block in The abundant community: awakening the power of families and neighborhoods, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., San Francisco, 2010; Halkovic et al. in Higher education and reentry: the gifts they bring, John Jay Research, New York, 2013. http://www.johnjayresearch.org/pri/gifts) students with criminal histories bring to their academic communities. These gifts include: deconstructing stigma/teaching the university; the desire to do more and give back; intimate knowledge of how systems work on the ground, and bridging relationships between the academy and underserved communities. Our evidence suggests that students with incarceration experience enhance the academic and civic environment of universities, dispelling the spurious suggestion that they are a risk to campus safety (Drysdale et al. in Campus attacks: targeted violence affecting institutions of higher education, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, 2010. http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac.shtml). We conclude with specific recommendations institutions of higher education should follow to foster greater inclusion in college communities.

Keywords

Community building in college Reentry Gifts Participatory action research Invisible stigma 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to: Ann Jacobs and Bianca Vanheydoorn of the Prisoner Reentry Institute for funding this project; Benay Rubenstein and Jeremy Robins for the donation of interviews from their documentary: Passport to the Future; Michelle Fine, our project advisor and mentor; our co-researchers: John Bae, Leslie Campbell, Desheen Evans, Chaka Gary, Marc Ramirez, Robert Riggs, Michael Taylor, Ray Tebout, and Aenora Tewaji; our project advisors: Douglas Thompkins, Ric Curtis, Baz Dreisinger, Michael Carey, Michael Pass, Efram Thompson, Crystal Rodriguez, Vivian Nixon, and Justice Banks. This research was supported in part by an Applied Social Issues Internship award from the Society for Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI).

References

  1. Alexander, M. (2010). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of color blindness. New York: The New Press.Google Scholar
  2. Anders, A. D., & Noblit, G. W. (2011). Understanding effective higher education programs in prisons: Considerations from the incarcerated individuals program in North Carolina. Journal of Correctional Education, 62(2), 77–93.Google Scholar
  3. Batiuk, M., Lahm, K., McKeever, M., Wilcox, N., & Wilcox, P. (2005). Disentangling the effects of correctional education: Are current policies misguided? An event history analysis. Criminal Justice, 5(1), 55–74.Google Scholar
  4. Baum, K., & Klaus, P. (2005). Violent victimization of college students, 1995–2002. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.Google Scholar
  5. bell hooks. (1990). Choosing the margin as a space of radical openness. In Yearning: Race, gender, and cultural politics (pp. 203–209). Boston: South End Press.Google Scholar
  6. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. doi: 10.1191/1478088706qp063oa.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Browne, K. (2005). Snowball sampling: Using social networks to research non-heterosexual women. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 8(1), 47–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Burke, L. O., & Vivian, J. E. (2001). The effect of college programming on recidivism rates at the Hampden County House of correction: A 5-year study. Journal of Correctional Education, 52(4), 160–162.Google Scholar
  9. Chappell, C. A. (2004). Post-secondary correctional education and recidivism: A meta-analysis of research conducted 1990–1999. The Journal of Correctional Education, 55(2), 148–169.Google Scholar
  10. College and Community Fellowship. (2012). Annual Report.Google Scholar
  11. Collins, P. H. (1990). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
  12. Dancy, T. E. (2014). (Un) Doing hegemony in education: Disrupting school-to-prison pipelines for black males. Equity and Excellence in Education, 47(4), 476–493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Drysdale, D., Modzeleski, W., & Simons, A. (2010). Campus attacks: Targeted violence affecting institutions of higher education. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved from http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac.shtml.
  14. Ellis. E. (N.d.). Non-traditional approach to criminal and social justice (Unpublished manuscript).Google Scholar
  15. Ellis. E. (2013). Re-entry vs. Resettlement: Towards alternative policies (Unpublished manuscript).Google Scholar
  16. Ellis, E. & Muid, O. (2013). Developing a public health model for drug policy and human justice in an era of fiscal crisis and paradigm shifts. A Working Concept Paper (Unpublished manuscript). Retrieved from http://centerfornuleadership.org/current-projects/public-health-policy-project/.
  17. Fals-Borda, O. (1979). Investigating reality in order to transform it: The Colombian experience. Dialectical Anthropology, 4(1), 33–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Fasching-Varner, K. J., Mitchell, R. W., Martin, L. L., & Bennett-Haron, K. P. (2014). Beyond school-to-prison pipeline and toward an educational and penal realism. Equity and Excellence in Education, 47(4), 410–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Fine, M., & Ruglis, J. (2009). Circuits and consequences of dispossession: The racialized realignment of the public sphere for U.S. youth. Transforming Anthropology, 17(1), 20–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Fine, M., Torre, M. E., Boudin, K., Bowen, I., Clark, J., Hylton, D., et al. (2001). Changing minds: The impact of college in a maximum-security prison. New York: The Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York.Google Scholar
  21. Fisher, B. S., Hartman, J. L., Cullen, F. T., & Turner, M. G. (2002). Making campuses safer for students: The Clery Act as a symbolic legal reform. Stetson Law Review, 32, 61.Google Scholar
  22. Frable, D. E. S., Platt, L., & Hoey, S. (1998). Concealable stigmas and positive self-perceptions: Feeling better around similar others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(4), 909–922.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Freire, P. (1970/2007). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum.Google Scholar
  24. Freire, P. (1982). Creating alternative research methods: Learning to do it by doing it (pp. 29–37). Creating knowledge: A monopoly.Google Scholar
  25. Frost, D. M. (2011). Social stigma and its consequences for the socially stigmatized. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5(11), 824–839.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Glaze, L. E. (2011). Correctional population in the United States, 2010. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.Google Scholar
  27. Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
  28. Goodman, D., & Smith, M. (1998). An interview with Eddie Ellis. Humanity and Society, 22(1), 98–111.Google Scholar
  29. Greene, C. A. (2013). Checking the box-enduring the stigma-applying to graduate school. New York: John Jay Research. Retrieved from http://johnjayresearch.org/pri/files/2013/11/Checking-the-Box1.pdf.
  30. Hagan, J., & Coleman, J. P. (2001). Returning captives of the American war on drugs: Issues of community and family reentry. Crime and Delinquency, 47(3), 352–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Halkovic, A., Fine, M., Bae, J., Campbell, L., Evans, D., Gary, C., Greene, C. A., Taylor, M., Tebout, R., Tewaji, A. (2013). Higher education and reentry: The gifts they bring. New York: John Jay Research. Retrieved from http://www.johnjayresearch.org/pri/gifts.
  32. Haraway, D. (1988). Situated knowledges: The science question in Feminism and the privilege of partial perspective. Feminist Studies, 14(3), 575–599.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. Hart, T. C. (2003). Violent victimization of college students. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.Google Scholar
  34. Karpowitz, D. (2005). Prison, college, and the paradox of punishment, crimes and punishment. Perspectives from the Humanities Studies in Law, Politics and Society, 37, 305–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Karpowitz, D., & Kenner, M. (1995). Education as crime prevention: The case for reinstating Pell Grant eligibility for the incarcerated. Annandale-on-Hudson, New York: Bard Prison Initiative, Bard College.Google Scholar
  36. Kelso, C. E., Jr. (2000). Recidivism rates for two education programs’ graduates compared to overall Washington State rates. Journal of Correctional Education, 51(2), 233–236.Google Scholar
  37. Lewin, K. (1946). Action research and minority problems. Journal of Social Issues, 2(4), 34–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Martin-Baro, I. (1994). Writings for a liberation psychology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
  39. Maruna, S. (2011). Reentry as a rite of passage. Punishment and Society, 13(1), 3–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. Mauer, M. (2006). Race to incarcerate. New York: The New Press.Google Scholar
  41. McKnight, J., & Block, P. (2010). The abundant community: Awakening the power of families and neighborhoods. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.Google Scholar
  42. McKnight, J. (October 1, 2012). Community building through gifts. Retrieved from http://www.abundantcommunity.com/home/posts/john_mcknight/parms/1/post/20121001_community_building_through_gifts.html.
  43. Nixon, V. (February 27, 2013). Opening remarks at: New York reentry education network pathways of possibility conference. New York: Baruch College. Retrieved from http://www.reentryeducationnetwork.org/uploads/1/2/5/3/12534585/pathwayspeechformattedsecondround.pdf.
  44. Olney, M. F., & Brockelman, K. F. (2003). Out of the disability closet: Strategic use of perception management by select university students with disabilities. Disability and Society, 18, 35–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  45. Pachankis, J. E. (2007). The Psychological implications of concealing a stigma: A cognitive-affective-behavioral model. Psychological Bulletin, 133(2), 328–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  46. Pettit, B., & Western, B. (2004). Imprisonment and the life course: Race and class inequality in U.S. incarceration. American Sociological Review, 69(2), 151–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  47. Pew Center on the States. (2011). State of recidivism: The revolving door of America’s prisons. Washington, DC: Pew Center on the States. Retrieved from http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/abstract.aspx?ID=256119.
  48. Phillips, R. (2004). Identifying factors of stigma influencing the reintegration of ex-inmates as law-abiding citizens (Unpublished master’s thesis). University of Windsor, Ontario.Google Scholar
  49. Pierce, M. W., Runyan, C. W., & Bangdiwala, S. I. (2014). The use of criminal history information in college admissions decisions. Journal of School Violence, 13(4), 359–376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  50. Powell, L. C. (1997). The achievement (K)not: Whiteness and “black underachievement”. In M. Fine, L. Weis, L. C. Powell, & L. M. Wong (Eds.), Off white: Readings on race, power, and society. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
  51. Quinn, D. M., Kahng, S. K., & Crocker, J. (2004). Discreditable: Stigma effects of revealing a mental illness history on test performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 803–815.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  52. Ragins, B. (2008). Disclosure disconnects: Antecedents and consequences of disclosing invisible stigmas across life domains. The Academy of Management Review ARCHIVE, 33(1), 194–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  53. Rasmussen, C., & Johnson, G. (2008). The ripple effect of Virginia Tech: Assessing the nationwide impact on campus safety and security policy and practice. Midwestern Higher Education Compact. Google Scholar
  54. Rosenthal, A., NaPier, E., Warth, P., & Weissman, M. (2015). Boxed out: Criminal history screening and college application attrition. New York: Center for Community Alternatives. Retrieved from http://www.communityalternatives.org/pdf/publications/BoxedOut_FullReport.pdf.
  55. Runyan, C. W., Pierce, M. W., Shankar, V., & Bangdiwala, S. I. (2013). Can student-perpetrated college crime be predicted based on precollege misconduct? Injury prevention,. doi: 10.1136/injuryprev-2012-040644.Google Scholar
  56. Smart, L., & Wegner, D. M. (2000). The hidden costs of hidden stigma. In T. F. Heatherton & R. E. Kleck (Eds.), Social psychology of stigma (pp. 220–242). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
  57. Smith, L. T. (2012). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. New York: Zed Books.Google Scholar
  58. Sokoloff, N. J., & Fontaine, A. (July, 2013). Systemic barriers to higher education: How colleges respond to applicants with criminal records in Maryland. New York: John Jay Research. Retrieved from http://johnjayresearch.org/pri/files/2013/11/Sokoff-and-Fontaine-Systemic-Barriers-to-Higher-Education-2013.pdf.
  59. Solomon, A. L., Osborne, J., LoBuglio, S. F., Mellow, J., & Mukamal, D. (2008). Life after lockup: Improving reentry from jail to the community. Washington, DC: Urban Institute. Retrieved from http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/411660_life_after_lockup.pdf.
  60. Stevens, D. J., & Ward, C. S. (1997). College education and recidivism: Educating criminals is meritorious. Journal of Correctional Education, 48(3), 106–111.Google Scholar
  61. Sturm, S., Skolnick, K. & Wu, T. (2010). Building pathways of possibility from criminal justice to college: College Initiative as a catalyst linking individual and systemic change (Internal document).Google Scholar
  62. Torre, M. E. (2009). Participatory action research and critical race theory: Fueling spaces for nos-otras to research. Urban Review, 41(1), 106–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  63. Torre, M. E., & Fine, M. (2005). Bar none: Extending affirmative action to higher education in prison. Journal of Social Issues, 61(3), 569–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  64. Torre, M. E., Fine, M., Stoudt, B. G., & Fox, M. (2012). Critical participatory action research as public science. In H. Cooper, P. Camic, D. L. Long, A. T. Panter, D. Rindskopf, & K. J. Sher (Eds.), APA handbook of research methods in psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 171–184). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
  65. Travis, Jeremy. (2005). But they all come back: Facing the challenges of prisoner reentry. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute Press.Google Scholar
  66. Unger, R. K. (2000). The 1999 SPSSI presidential address: Outsiders inside: Positive marginality and social change. Journal of Social Issues, 56(1), 163–179. doi: 10.1111/0022-4537.00158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  67. Weis, L., & Fine, M. (2004). Working method: Research and social justice. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  68. Weissman, M., Rosenthal, A., Warth, P., Wolf, E., & Messina-Yauchzy, M. (2010). The use of criminal history records in college admissions reconsidered. New York: Center for Community Alternatives.Google Scholar
  69. Western, B., & Pettit, B. (2010). Collateral costs: Incarceration’s effect on economic mobility. Washington, DC: The Pew Charitable Trusts.Google Scholar
  70. Wheelock, D. (2005). Collateral consequences and racial inequality felon status restrictions as a system of disadvantage. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 21(1), 82–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Critical Social/Personality Psychology, The Graduate CenterCity University of New YorkNew YorkUSA

Personalised recommendations

Cite article

Buy options