January 4, 2017 - 11:15am
By Janina Stajic
Many people on the outside may believe an inmate’s story is one of violence, addiction, even hate. This profoundly negative story is one inmates have heard countless times, even seen reflected in the eyes of those they talk to about the fact they “did time.” But, that story doesn’t include other chapters that tell about an inmate’s goals, aspirations or triumphs.
It doesn’t include the story of the profound love they have for their families. Or how sometimes it’s just one bad decision, one wrong choice that led them down a path that ended in jail time. It also doesn’t include the story of their hope for redemption and of finding a new path – or how a powerful course being taught by two Vancouver Island University Criminology professors is transforming that hope into reality.*
That course is called Inside-Out and it’s based on a simple concept – pair inmates with university students and challenge them to learn about marginalization, stigmatization and diversity within a safe, supportive environment. Founded almost 20 years ago at the Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the program came to Canada in 2011. When VIU Criminology professor Joanne Falvai heard about it at a conference she knew right away it was something she wanted to do at VIU.
“In our third and fourth year Criminology courses, we take the students to the Nanaimo Correctional Centre for three hours. Even that minimal amount of time has an impact on them. I couldn’t imagine what would happen if we paired our Criminology students with inmates for an entire semester.
With support from VIU and a generous grant from the Vancouver Foundation, Falvai and her fellow Criminology professor, Elizabeth McLin, went through the complex process of creating an Inside-Out program for VIU students and the inmates at the Nanaimo Correctional Centre (NCC). Thanks to their efforts on January 4, 2016, 30 nervous students, 15 from the “inside” and 15 from the “outside” – gathered together in a large room at NCC.
A New Story
Fast forward a month and picture a 30-something man dressed in a red prison jumpsuit. He’s at NCC after a decision took him down the path of addiction, which took him down the path of getting in trouble with the law, which led into a jail cell. That’s part of the story; here’s the other part. This inmate is deep in thought, engrossed in a book called North of Normal, by Cea Sunrise Person. While he’s reading, he’s jotting down notes in a small book, so he’s prepared for the deep discussion he’s going to have in a few hours with his classmates.
Another part of this story? He’s just made the decision to forgo his parole – to stay in jail – so he can complete this course that is literally changing his life, empowering him to take a very different path than the one that led him to NCC.
This student is Ian Derosier. He’s one of the thirty students who took part in VIU’s pilot Inside-0ut program. The fact that he decided to forgo his parole is the most powerful endorsement of the program’s potential to radically change people’s lives.
The most transformative part of the program for Ian was reading texts about people who were just like him – who hadn’t had a good start in life, who didn’t have support, good role models, a positive educational experience, and who had made decisions that led them to some dark places. The life-changing part? Reading about how despite all the very real challenges they faced, they were able to reach deep inside of themselves and make change.
“Many of the books we read were about stigmatization and exclusion. I went through my own form of being excluded in society because of the choices I was making. Reading these text and discussing them with the other students made me realize I too could change what is going to happen to me.”
Ian was released on parole in June 2017 and is now focused on changing his story to one that will take him back to Nanaimo but this time to VIU as a student. His hope is he can use his education and life experiences to support others to make positive change in their own lives.
“I’m determined to pursue a degree in social work. Because of this course I know I can do it. I’ve seen others who didn’t have that support and who are now back in jail.”
Shifting Perspectives
The course has not only changed the lives of Inside students like Ian. Outside students are also being profoundly impacted. Some have become champions for the program; others are re-evaluating career paths which before seemed like a sure thing.
One of those Outside students, Rebecca Ehlert, is going into her fourth year of the Bachelor of Arts program with a Major in Criminology. Until she was chosen to be an Inside-Out student, she had planned to eventually pursue a law degree.
“There are no words that can describe what happened to us while in this program,” she says.
One of the most impactful parts was realizing that there is very little difference between her and the Inside students.
“I have a relatively chequered past. I’ve done stuff that exactly mirrored what many of the inmates had done – stuff that had put them into those red jumpsuits and given them a criminal record. I realized then that there was literally the thinnest of lines between the path I was on and what they were going through. This realization took my breath away – it was almost terrifying.”
It also made Rebecca reconsider her own story. Law school no longer seemed like the obvious next move. As the class progressed and she could see the impact it was having on the inmates and on her fellow VIU students, she began to reconsider her options.
“I want to be part of something like this course – something that gives people hope and the idea that their lives could be so much more than what they are,” she says. “There are always going to be people who are tough on crime and the story of this class isn’t going to change their minds. But it’s changed mine. To deter people from crime you have to give them a purpose. I saw how this course gave that to the Inside students – they achieved something they never thought possible and because of this realized they had the power to change their life story. This was huge and I saw it as reform in the simplest and most powerful terms.”
Falvai agrees, sharing a story about one of the Inside students being handed back his first paper which received an A-.
“He got choked up,” recalls Falvai. “He got very emotional because it was the first time in his life he had not had a negative experience at school. Suddenly someone was telling him he wasn’t an inmate, but instead he was just as capable, intelligent, and knowledgeable as the university students sitting beside him. It was the first time in a long time someone had demonstrated his value went far deeper than his surface story. It was an incredible moment.”
McLin believes one of the most profound parts of the program is that it gives the Inside students an opportunity to feel normal for the first time since they’ve arrived at the correctional facility.
“They suddenly see that they are really not that different from the university students. In fact, they can see that they are university students. And that kind of shift in perspective has a huge impact on their ability to also shift their life’s path.”
The course has made an indelible impact – two Inside students are planning to pursue post-secondary opportunities; two more are considering following in their footstep. Another former Inside student wants to support youth involved in gangs; and one is planning to write his own memoir inspired by the books he read in the program.
Outside student Kevin Wong also experienced a shift in perspective, so much so he is now a champion for the program. A Bachelor of Arts student with a Major in Criminology when he took the course, he planned to go into policing. He still plans on doing that, but because of this program he is going to be approaching his career with an entirely different attitude.
“Having the opportunity to interact with real people who have endured addiction, violence, abuse, neglect and poverty has been a transformative experience,” says Kevin. “Not only have I developed a greater sense of empathy towards these individuals, but I have begun to truly care for the welfare of the Inside students and I feel a genuine interest in seeing that they succeed upon their release.”
Rather than seeing the stereotypes – the single story – Kevin, like Rebecca, began to see that, he had more in common with the Inside students than he did differences. And that perspective is one that Kevin believes everyone – particularly those going into law enforcement – should have.
“After taking this course I have much more empathy towards people who are incarcerated. I know there is much more to their story and that really it’s not that different from mine. This became clear in the class as the dichotomy between student and inmate ceased to exist and we all became students with one collective goal in mind – to learn.”
Kevin believes this course will make him a better more successful police officer as he now has much more empathy for those who are incarcerated.
“There is a crisis going on – you hear so many heart-breaking stories of police brutality, which I think stems from lack of empathy. A course like this would go a long way in addressing this.”
In January 2017, thirty new students will take their seats in the next Inside-Out program. Likely they will be feeling as nervous as the first cohort. If the impact of the pilot program is anything to go by, at the end of the first class they will have an inkling that they should be feeling thankful that they’ve been given the opportunity to take their seats next to people who will, over the next four months, play a role in sharing an experience that will transform their life stories and that none of them will ever forget.
For more information contact joanne.falvai@viu.ca.
* Inspired by the reflections of Kevin Wong, Inside-Out student from January - March 2016
*This article originally appeared in the Fall/Winter 2016 issue of VIU Magazine. Check out more stories from the latest issue of VIU Magazine here.
Tags: VIU Magazine
