All About Mentoring Spring 2011 - SUNY Empire State College

21
Changing Ways of Knowing
for Transitioning Women
Jo Jorgenson, Rio Salado College (Tempe, Ariz.)
Schuante, a soft-spoken 47-year-old African
American woman with five children, spent
over 20 years in and out of prison, yet she
emanates a profound state of well-being in
her life now. After serving her last sentence,
she returned to the community almost
four years ago and secured employment
in a field for which she was trained
while incarcerated. Schuante continues
to be successful in her work today. When
asked about turning points in her life, she
remarked, “To be honest, it only boils down
to one thing for me: it is education.”
Reflection
When I first encountered her among a
group of learners in a construction program
that taught carpentry and electrical skills,
Schuante was nearing release from a
minimum security facility and finishing her
workforce development training as a college
student in prison. At Rio Salado College in
Tempe, Ariz., incarcerated students enroll
in certificate and associate degree programs
while still in prison. Although the array of
educational offerings has fluctuated over the
last 25 years along with the state budgets
and the political climate, the Department of
Corrections has maintained contracts with
the local community colleges throughout
Arizona to provide opportunities for
inmates to advance their education and
learn skills that will improve their chances
of employment. During one of these
peaks in the department’s commitment to
education for inmates, Rio was able to
expand experiential learning for minimum
security women by training them at actual
construction sites in the community.
The students, working alongside their
instructor, applied theory to practice by
building Habitat for Humanity homes and
remodeling businesses and educational work
spaces for government and industry.
As I observed Schuante in this environment
in my role as an administrator of
instructional programs, I was struck by
the contrast of her quiet, shy demeanor
and the strength of her voice as she shared
her learning experiences and knowledge
with the newer students. She mentored and
tutored, easily conveying her love for the
electrical trade and her hope and dream to
be a part of that industry after her release.
It wasn’t until more than a year later that
I chanced upon her again as one of 11
interviewees whom I selected by criterion
and snowball sampling strategies to be part
of a phenomenological study. My purpose
was to explore women’s perceptions of their
post-secondary educational experiences
during incarceration and the influence of
that involvement in their lives post-release.
The study was completed in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for a degree
of Doctor of Philosophy in Education,
but I have been acutely interested in the
relationship of education for incarcerated
men and women to successful community
re-entry for over 30 years. For much of
that time, I have placed special focus on
positively impacting the lives of women who
have been serving sentences of probation,
imprisonment, or parole for criminal
activity. My exposure to their stories of
economic and social marginalization as
women struggling to survive in a world
dominated by male principle has deeply
moved me to concentrate my energies on
creating enhanced and equal educational
opportunities for this population. In my
current position as dean of instruction
and community development, my level of
involvement is one that is more closely
aligned with policy change, and less
connected with individuals. Nevertheless,
my passion for providing quality-driven
post-secondary educational opportunities
to incarcerated adults and juveniles is a
constant. With regard to incarceration and
reintegration, we have egregious social
issues that need serious attention and
contemporary, innovative solutions.
Jo Jorgenson
Relevance
In the United States, more than 2.3 million
adult men and women are incarcerated in
penal systems nationwide. More than one
out of every 100 adults is behind bars; this
country has the largest number of people
under confinement in the world (Pew
Center on the States, 2008). The cost of
educating a prisoner is less than the cost of
incarcerating that prisoner (Erisman and
Contardo, 2005), yet the value of education
in the reduction of recidivism continues to
be debated. Additionally, the burgeoning
cost of incarceration and current economic
shortfalls have led to programmatic cuts that
inevitably affect educational funding.
I was intrigued by the approach Owen
(1998) offered for viewing the increased
criminality of women. Building on the
work of previous research, she posited that
women’s criminal behavior is reflective of
their attempts to survive under conditions
that they did not create. They have
been economically marginalized to the
extent that they are not able to cope in a
conventional society that still places great
value on traditional roles such as those of
suny empire state college • all about mentoring • issue 39 • spring 2011