Women, Law Enforcement, Criminal Justice and Corrections

Dr. Breea Chaunte Willingham
Title: Assistant Professor, Criminal Justice Program at SUNY Plattsburgh
Research Topic: “What Good Would A College Degree Do For These Women?:” The Politics And Paradox Of Teaching Higher Education In Women’s Prisons
Institution: Buffalo, State University of New York
Committee Chair: Dr. Carl Nightingale
Abstract: The instructors I interviewed for this study are among the pioneers in a revitalization of prison education during a period in which it has suffered one of its greatest setbacks – the government pulling out of the prison education business. They develop and teach their courses with little to no pedagogical support or training, and at a great personal cost for some. They deliver a bare-bones yet imaginative education whose benefits suggest that state governments should return to the business of college in-prison programs. This study examines the ways these instructors navigate the politics of teaching in prisons and jails to create safe learning spaces for incarcerated women to challenge the disempowering environment of their confinement. I argue that while teaching in prison may not be an intentional political act, the very location of a prison makes it political. My findings in this qualitative analysis are based on in-depth interviews with professors, community volunteers and formerly incarcerated women who teach in women’s prisons and jails. These instructors must negotiate power relations with prison administration and staff, including navigating their place in the typically male dominated hierarchical power structure of prisons and jails. Critical pedagogy is used as the theoretical framework to analyze the tension between punishment and education that creates the paradox of college-in-prison: the classes promote critical thinking and questioning while prison protocols requires obedience and sanctions imprisoned women when they question authority.
Click the link below to download this study
Title: Assistant Professor, Criminal Justice Program at SUNY Plattsburgh
Research Topic: “What Good Would A College Degree Do For These Women?:” The Politics And Paradox Of Teaching Higher Education In Women’s Prisons
Institution: Buffalo, State University of New York
Committee Chair: Dr. Carl Nightingale
Abstract: The instructors I interviewed for this study are among the pioneers in a revitalization of prison education during a period in which it has suffered one of its greatest setbacks – the government pulling out of the prison education business. They develop and teach their courses with little to no pedagogical support or training, and at a great personal cost for some. They deliver a bare-bones yet imaginative education whose benefits suggest that state governments should return to the business of college in-prison programs. This study examines the ways these instructors navigate the politics of teaching in prisons and jails to create safe learning spaces for incarcerated women to challenge the disempowering environment of their confinement. I argue that while teaching in prison may not be an intentional political act, the very location of a prison makes it political. My findings in this qualitative analysis are based on in-depth interviews with professors, community volunteers and formerly incarcerated women who teach in women’s prisons and jails. These instructors must negotiate power relations with prison administration and staff, including navigating their place in the typically male dominated hierarchical power structure of prisons and jails. Critical pedagogy is used as the theoretical framework to analyze the tension between punishment and education that creates the paradox of college-in-prison: the classes promote critical thinking and questioning while prison protocols requires obedience and sanctions imprisoned women when they question authority.
Click the link below to download this study

breea_willingham_dissertation_1_.pdf | |
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