“The Flap of a Butterfly Wing”: From Incarceration to College Access

By Sharon Anthony, Elizabeth Benton, Schai Schairer, Jarvis Slacks

In August 2021, then-president of Montgomery College, Dr. DeRionne Pollard recommended that several deans meet with Ms. Schai Schairer, a graduate of Montgomery College who had started a nonprofit organization that focused on working with incarcerated women at the Maryland Correctional Institute for Women (MCIW).  By June 2022, the English and Reading area embarked on a pilot partnership with Ms. Schairer that included six faculty members and administrative and faculty leaders.  In this article, we explore how we came to this work, the structure of our partnership, how the program supports college access and strategic planning, and reflections on how the partnership serves and inspires the Montgomery College community.

Introduction

Part of the mission and vision of community college includes building partnerships with the community to support the local workforce by way of a college-going culture, civic-mindedness, and lifelong engagement with alumni.  In fall of 2022, the authors of this article found ourselves in just that perfect place.  We, as Montgomery College faculty and faculty leaders, joined a program that alumna Schai Schairer had begun, Fighting Injustice Standing Together (F.I.S.T.), to bring educational opportunities and, more importantly, personal voice and empowerment to residents of MCIW.

What is F.I.S.T?

F.I.S.T. serves incarcerated women at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women (MCIW) by providing safe and empowering programs for women to learn, create, build confidence and self-esteem, and lead with their voices. Two of the in-prison efforts that F.I.S.T. leads are called ARTExpress and the Prison to Poetry Pipeline. ARTExpress is a collaboration that F.I.S.T. manages with other creative artists, to provide diverse workshops and lessons for women inside prison. The Prison to Poetry Pipeline is the name of the poetry-specific effort that F.I.S.T. leads and can be conducted in conjunction with the ARTExpress collaboration or independently.

The Partnership

The mission of F.I.S.T. is to take arts-based learning to the prison where women will be detained for any number of years and a minimum 18 months.  Through writing poetry and creating art, the participants gain voice and agency and build community.  With feedback from Montgomery College faculty, participants engage with curricular materials which include readings, reflections, creative writing, and feedback.

By June 2022, the English and Reading area and F.I.S.T. embarked on a pilot partnership, signing a Memorandum of Understanding.  Our program quickly unfolded with 30 incarcerated women engaging with professors, exchanging poetry and critical understanding; 6 professors volunteering to guide the women through new inquiry and belonging; 11 of the participants eligible for more classes at Montgomery College and a microcredential in creative writing; and a partnership that knows no bounds.

We collaborate with Ms. Schairer on curriculum, and faculty members read and provide feedback on poetry and creative writing of the 30 participants who have completed our program to date.  Further, three individuals have earned the MC Microcredential in Creative Writing from Montgomery College, providing them the intrinsic accomplishment of finding their voice while incarcerated.

How We Came to This Work

Our lived experience (Dahlberg, 2007), with prison and prison education, contributed to our individual connections to F.I.S.T.

Schai Schairer, Executive Director Fighting Injustice Standing Together

I started at Montgomery College in 2009 and graduated in 2015. From there, I transferred to Coppin State University where I studied criminal justice. While I was an undergraduate student at Coppin State University, my professor handed me a list of potential internships, a graduation requirement.  After looking over the placement options, and not seeing one I felt would utilize and/or build on my skill set, or that I felt passionate about, I chose not to do the internship.  Then, a bit of luck came my way: one of my professors happened to be the former warden of the Maryland Correctional Institute for Women (MCIW) and took my classmates and me on a prison tour.  During the tour, I witnessed a panel discussion with some of the women who were incarcerated. One of my classmates asked, “What programs do you feel are missing within the institution?”  Every panelist shared that rehabilitative services were lacking.

Being a professional spoken word artist, and knowing how much poetry has played a strong influence in my life, I asked my professor if she would be willing to support my teaching poetry in the prison as a way to meet the internship and graduation requirement.  After a “yes” from her, I sent a proposal to the warden.

After a few weeks, the warden contacted me and approved the internship.  Eleven women engaged in my program, which turned quickly into a waitlisted program of up to 250 eager participants.  As a result of the successful and meaningful college internship, I was asked to continue working with MCIW and that is how Fighting Injustice Standing Together (F.I.S.T.) emerged as my life’s work and commitment.

Since 2017, I have been able to put together a small team of people and establish F.I.S.T.  and two curricular sequences, ARTExpress and Prison to Poetry Pipeline.  In the past few years, even during COVID-19, we have been able to work with over 200 participants in developing their voice, agency, and creative talents.  Through the current partnership with English, reading and now visual and performing arts at MC, incarcerated women are changing their lives one story, drawing, and poem at a time.

Sharon Anthony, ENRD Department Chair at the Germantown Campus of Montgomery College

Without a voice — and the will and opportunity to use it — people, especially women, can become invisible in society’s eyes.  Incarcerated women have been denied their voice in many ways.  However, reflecting on the words and artistic expression of powerful, confident women authors and artists opens a door for women – all women – to find their voice and to dream of the future.

I have taught Women’s Literature and Women’s Studies at Montgomery College, and my research distressed me when I learned about the limited resources and rehabilitative services available in women’s prisons.  However, literary study, creative writing, and self-reflection can create the opportunity for incarcerated women to recognize their own potential, refine communication skills, and set goals. Reading the words of impactful female writers from diverse backgrounds can fuel true strength in readers as they learn how other women have endured challenges and set-backs, sacrificed for those they love, and even after tragedy, faced their future with courage and determination.  This firm belief as well as Ms. Schairer’s  inspiration and passion to create F.I.S.T. drew me to work with the program

Elizabeth Benton, Dean of English and reading at Montgomery College

I have long associated education with prison, as strange as it sounds.  In the 1980s, I had three distinct brushes with incarceration: a field trip, a family member, and a research assignment. The field trip included an excursion to the Arlington County jail where my classmates and I witnessed inmates playing basketball to pass the time and others in solitary confinement moaning to be set free.  In the 1980s, my uncle spent time in prison after leaving the country while on probation.  As a result of visiting him in federal prison in Florida, I chose to focus my school research paper on recidivism.  Not only did I learn a tremendous amount about prisons, I learned that I had a deep concern for incarcerated persons, as well as an abiding respect for education: gathering sources, testing my thinking, and the writing process.

Another prominent memory, years later, included being the professor of an incarcerated student.  “Professor Benton, we need you to do something very challenging,” the chair of the counseling department said over the phone.  “Ok, I’m listening,” I responded.  “We have a unique situation: A student has been accused of a grievous act, but they have been approved to continue classes at the College.  We are asking you to serve as their professor, and you will work with me.  Are you able to do this?  It will be a great benefit to the family.”  I agreed, and for the next two semesters, I worked with the student to complete the English foundation sequence.  I never met the student, but I met their parent, who cried, often, at the adult child’s brokenness.

More recently, in August 2021, the former president of Montgomery College invited a small group of us to meet with a college alumna and executive director of a non-profit organization that served incarcerated women through a poetry and arts program.  In this fateful Zoom meeting, I was reminded that “the time is always right to do right” (King, 1963).   Within a few short weeks, Ms. Schai Shairer and I had kindled a partnership and friendship.  We quickly launched a pilot program to support a micorcredential program that would allow women in F.I.S.T. to work with Montgomery College faculty members as the first phase of more extensive course work at the College.

Jarvis Slacks, Professor of English and creative writing

I witnessed the suffering of incarceration from an early age. My step-father was incarcerated when he was younger. Once he was released, he met my mother. They were both young and poor, trying to understand how to feed three kids and live their lives. He often talked about prison in the most confused ways. He would say that he learned how to survive, how to cope. But he often seemed broken. I learned quickly that our society prefers people to suffer in prison, not grow. There is a sense that the only way we can have a civilization is if those that broke our rules face the worst indignities. What would my step-father have become if he had received an education? Or if someone tried to show he could be more than what the world thought of him? It troubles me that I’ll never know the answer.

Working in the F.I.S.T. program has allowed me to give the same love and attention I received in my education. People gave me a chance. People looked past their prejudices. There were teachers, preachers, and co-workers that helped me to learn and grow. That’s what I want us to do with F.I.S.T. There is no better way to enhance someone’s life than through art and reading. Anyone who has been helped by this program represents a victory for me, and I’m proud of what Schai has done here. We have a lot more work to do, but I know that we have the people and the dedication to do it.

Literature that Guides Our Work

It is no secret that incarcerated individuals face near impossible financial odds before, during, and upon release from prison (Thouin, 2021).  Formerly incarcerated individuals are “ten times” more likely than the general public to be unhoused.  Secondly, the unemployment rate for formerly incarcerated individuals is 27% (p. 70).  According to Carson, Nadel, and Gael (2022), incarcerated individuals, especially women, were one of the hardest hit populations during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Deaths in prisons were up by 46% in 2020, compared to 2019. In recent years, financial and physical constraints have continued to overwhelm the mental health of incarcerated individuals (Coticcia & Putman, 2021; Fellner, 2006).

To address longstanding challenges, many studies focus on education and recidivism, showing positive results for household sustaining wages after incarceration: providing incarcerated persons with “any form of education is associated with a 43% reduction in recidivism and increases the likelihood of employment by 13% compared to those who do not participate in educational programming” (Thouin, 2021, p. 70).

One of the best ways to build toward the post-prison household sustaining wage, is through educational programs during, specifically when they focus on “the pursuit of self-improvement” (Coticchia and Putnam, 2021, p. 83).  According to Coticchia and Putnam, “[T]he societal identity associated with being in prison comes to the detriment of an individual’s self-esteem, as they are likely to view themselves as occupying a lower societal rank than others” (p. 82).  In addition, loss of connection with familial support causes incarcerated individuals to “lose a sense of security in their social support system and experience extreme loneliness” (Coticcia & Putnam, 2021; Jewkess, Y.,Crewe, B., & Bennett, J., 2016; Fazel, S., Hayes, A. J., Bartellas, K., Clerici, M., & Trestman, R., 2016; Liebling, 1999).  Site-based (at the prison) and correspondence educational experiences have the potential to build self-esteem, self-efficacy, and self-regard (Coticchia and Putnam, 2021, p. 84).  Even more profound is the potential effect of “unstructured recreational activities” such as arts-based programs (p. 84).  According to Coticchia and Putnam, who support independent, correspondence-based programs, “individualized qualitative feedback from volunteer readers” provides incarcerated individuals the opportunity to make connections to “the outside,” having a positive effect on loneliness (p. 84).

Arts and humanities-related programming are particularly effective at enhancing the prison environment for all populations (Basaran, 2016; Brewster, 2012, 2014; 2015; Clements, 2004; Gussak & Ploumis-Devick, 2004; Hearing on the Joint Committee on the Arts, 2013; Langelid, Maki, Raundrup, & Svensson, 2009; Wooldredge, 2018).  As far back as 1977, the American Correctional Association’s summative report noted that arts programming can be successful in reaching a traditionally neglected segment of the prison population–the female inmate. Since then, additional research has shown that English, reading, and arts programming can help create a “safer space” for women to not only articulate their personal histories, desires, and struggles but also to share them with each other. The group dynamics of sharing one’s emotions with other participants is suggested to be particularly therapeutic for participants across case studies (Thorn, 2012). Additionally, English, reading, and the arts can enable participants to reclaim their identities in an environment that systematically strips prisoners of their individuality. Creative expression can allow participants to take back control of their own narrative, to be viewed as a whole person, and to share themselves with others (Stanford, 2005). Furthermore, an increase in the self-esteem of participants, many of whom may have had few positive education and professional experiences before prison, can be seen through engagement with the arts. Arts programs often provide incarcerated women with an opportunity to participate in creative writing, dance, and visual arts for the first time in their lives, thereby unearthing talents and pride in oneself (Dunphy, 1999).

Faculty Reflection

Several faculty members have engaged in this project with F.I.S.T. participants and have offered to elaborate on their experiences.  Dr. Mary Robinson explained that her first-year participants “were dedicated and committed to completing the assignments” in the packets.  Dr. Robinson continued, “I was very proud of the students who completed the writing assignments.” Dr. Robinson will continue working with F.I.S.T.

Professor Debora Taylor explains her experience with one participant, wishing she had more time to work with her:

I enjoyed the exchange with the student a lot.  The passion in her writing was to be admired!  I also enjoyed that the things we picked for the students, the story about Frida Kahlo, was something that this student related to.  By this, I mean the student noted Kahlo’s physical limitations and that she had little control over her life in some ways.  However, Kahlo managed to live a life expressly for herself and learned to tolerate pain.   As the student said, “Painting must have helped her to take her mind off of the constant pain.” It seemed the student found ways to connect with Kahlo’s life.  The insights were profound.  I only wish I could have continued working with this student.

Professor Sharon Anthony describes her experience with curricular suggestions and her interpersonal connections to the participants:

When I received the students’ writing, their words struck me with their rawness and vulnerability. They voiced anger, disappointment, hope, love, and compassion – all within a few short lines. Their writing provided a window into their world, their past and present which is now contained in a cell.  How could I begin to comment on such writing? As a college English professor, my day-to-day world differs widely from theirs.  What I did comment on was the potency of their reflections, the skills they demonstrated, and the amazing bravery and honesty they illustrated.  This is some of the most meaningful feedback I have offered on student writing in my entire professional career, and I hope to continue to work with F.I.S.T.

More recently, we have responded to the prison population’s request for expansion of the arts, adding performing arts to our curriculum.  It is in the early stages, but we are engaging with Visual and Performing Arts dean, chair, and faculty to create a vibrant curriculum, and we are also planning a showcase of participant work.

In Wilkerson’s Caste, her epilogue demands attention to a radical empathy that guides relation beyond boundary of caste and pre-understanding. Montgomery College’s continued partnership with F.I.S.T. is the flap of the butterfly wings that, “shifts the air and builds to a hurricane across the ocean” (Wilkerson, 2022, p. 386).   Wilkerson’s call for a stance of openness compelled those of us in this F.I.S.T.-MC partnership to to change, expand, and consider a different way to educate.  At this time, we are in awe of the metamorphosis of the experience of education: The drumbeat of professional week, midterms, units, assessments, meetings, certifications, and final grades has been disrupted.  New ways of living, knowing, and teaching has bloomed, instead.  As Montgomery College participants, we experience anew the joy of what we do and gratitude for knowing and living the humanities.

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References

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