by Shon Pernice, Moberly Correctional Center in Moberly, MO
“Education has for its object the formation of character”- Herbert Spencer 1820-1903
The American prison system is a place that is filled with many dark voices. When you have failed in society, how does one rebuild their sense of self-worth? A day in prison is so rigidly controlled, structured, and dictated that a prisoner loses the ability to make decisions for themselves.
A prisoner does what he or she is told (if they know what is good for them) which is not conducive to the development of strong critical thinking skills. When a prisoner’s existence is restricted by external forces, they may eventually fall victim to incarcerations degenerating influences. Prison deprives an individual of their freedom, but one educations can help tear down the constraints of the mind and awaken the drive to work towards short term and lifelong goals.
The Correctional Education Program, through Ashland University, has provided me with a solid foundation, as well as the resolve to avoid detrimental activities while incarcerated. It is a gateway to creating a sense of purpose and meaning. Moreover, it has transformed my views of the world around me. Higher education imparts the abilities to analyze, reason and think for yourself in any situation. As a powerful liberating tool, it can never be taken away. Knowledge can only be surrendered by your choice not to utilize those skills.
When you arrive in a correctional institution, time stops. There is limited contact with the outside world and any meaningful relationships are now distanced. Criminal behavior becomes a means for survival and the brain starts to lose its need for higher forms of thinking. By not being fully alive in the present a prisoner stays more firmly imprisoned in the past.
The Scarlett Letter F for “felon” is now going to be a permanent part of my identity. In addition, many other constraints in society, such as housing, employment and opportunity, will be adversely affected by this new label up on release. Without any positive influences that can bring knowledge and hope to a prisoner, a cycle of distorted thinking will contribute to a destructive lifestyle.
I had tried for several years to get into a college program while incarcerated. The correspondence courses were expensive and navigating the prison bureaucracy on my own seemed more trouble than what it was worth. I can only have limit of five books on my property list at a time and the mail room procedures seem to change yearly. I am a disabled veteran with G.I. Bill eligibility.
However, finding an accredited college that was VA approved was another encumbrance. I had almost given up hope until I saw the college leaflets that were posted around the prison in the fall of 2019. Ashland University’s Correctional Education Program gave me a renewed sense of encourage and a path to reclaim my self-worth. My perspective about the future and myself began to reshape. I learned that had something significant to work towards and a future that had potential value.
My values, norms and thinking there were soon to be challenged during the spring semester of 2020. I had my own unique view of how the world functioned and quickly learned that education is the enemy of bigotry, racism and stereotypes.
My ethnocentric feelings towards other faiths was stereotypical and negative. The World Religion course provided me with a balanced understanding of the unique differences in the global community. My dislike for any religion or denomination than my own was solely based on fear and ignorance. The lack of understanding of other cultures and their values has caused me to regret some of my past attitudes. I found myself occupied with retrospective thoughts as I started to accept my intellectual poverty.
I would never had thought about the theater or a Broadway Show. That was for rich people. however, I fell in love with human action before my eyes. Throughout the Theatre class, I was able to view, a Raisin in the Sun, Rent, and Oklahoma. My thoughts of the Tony Awards before this class were that it was for want-to-be actors.
Now, I found myself clapping to a scene from the2011 Tony Award for the Musical, “Anything Goes,” starring Sutton Foster. The more I studied, the more I appreciated something I most likely would never have been expose to. Imagination and the arts are absolutely critical to the quality of our lives. I may not be able to afford a Broadway show, but an Off Broadway, or regional play, is now on my bucket list.
I thought that Jazz was just a type of music that Kenny G played on his saxophone or of some shady nightclub lounge singer. I then discovered, in my Music course, that jazz is a part of our American Heritage. It originated right here in the United States. The different styles, tempos, instruments, and regions of jazz’s specific melodies made me wonder how missed this treasure.
The next thing I knew was that I am purchasing songs by Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and the Glenn Miller Orchestra. I am now elated to be able to discuss the various types of saxophones and how they differ. My life before prison was too closed-minded and sheltered to be able to appreciate a form of music that I was oblivious to. While surrounded by drugs, gangs, and violence, jazz became a soothing island in the sea of misery that I face every day.
From my prison cell, I visited Machu Picchu in the Peruvian Alps, through the poetry of Pablo Neruda in my Latin American Literature course. I was exposed to the domination of indigenous people by the conquistadors and uncovered that they were not friendly explorers. The institution of slavery is a horrible chapter of our nation’s past.
That was all I knew about it. Former slave and writer, Frederick Douglas, offered me first-hand accounts in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas.
As a literary piece that I previously would never had picked up, now I see race of people who were done a terrible injustice. It was a horrible event that must never be forgotten or repeated. Moreover, Aristotelian ethics has me reevaluating mown morals and virtues. Philosophy encouraged me to conduct an autopsy of my moral compass and reexamine the values that I hold. My craving for connection soon reemerged to become a contributing member of a larger social culture as I grow intellectually and emotionally.
The Prison Education Program has allowed me to break free from the prison routine that hinders growth. By not being fully alive in the present, I was kept more firmly imprisoned in my past beliefs. Furthermore, by embracing an educational opportunity over criminal activities inside of prison, I am choosing to overcome some of the common barriers that can obstruct reintegration.
I will graduate with my Bachelor’s Degree in the spring of 2023. By being able to identify with a new social group as a college graduate, the renewed sense of hope is a motivating factor for me to succeed. Doors of my past have closed, but new ones will open. The Scarlett Letter that I now bear is a reminder of my situation and of how I turned my predicament into a human achievement.