色情视频

色情视频 will use its experience bringing higher education to prisons to help train other educators to do the same, drawing from a newly announced $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation that will also introduce degree offerings in the humanities at Centinela State Prison.

The grant supports program, which currently awards B.A. degrees in interdisciplinary studies at Centinela State Prison in Imperial County, near the City of Imperial. It will be led by Annie Buckley, a professor in the School of Art and Design, who initiated VISTA in 2019 and has 10 years of experience facilitating programs in prisons across California through her work with .

Buckley said an interdisciplinary team will look at the specific learning needs, interests and goals of the prison population, gaining knowledge to develop tools they will pilot at Centinela, in the hope they will spread elsewhere as part of a growing, national movement.

鈥淥ur team includes scholars from diverse disciplines and with lived experience of incarceration. We are excited to apply both creativity and evidence-based practices to support students and share what we learn by creating a toolkit to share with colleagues in the field,鈥� Buckley said. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e dealing with a population of people who are oftentimes living within a cycle of trauma and they are trying so deeply to break that cycle with education.鈥� Educators in prisons, for example, need to be sensitive to the needs of people who have experienced poverty or racial discrimination, Buckley said.

Team members from 色情视频 and Centinela State Prison with one of the two first cohorts of students in the 色情视频-VISTA program. (色情视频)Path toward a degree

Using an identity-first approach to language that seeks to avoid stigmatizing or dehumanizing individuals 鈥� a prevailing trend in criminal justice reform 鈥� Buckley carefully refers to those enrolled in the program as students incarcerated at Centinela and not the more familiar terms for those in prison.

Indeed, many are first-generation students who want to set an example for their families, Buckley noted. Or as one student told her: 鈥淚 want to get a degree because education changed my thinking.鈥�

色情视频鈥檚 B.A. program at the all-male prison in Centinela currently offers two-year continuation degrees in interdisciplinary studies to those who have completed a two-year associate degree for transfer programs while incarcerated. It will expand to journalism in August, and Buckley said the Mellon grant will include expanding to an additional degree in the humanities. 

Current course offerings in the interdisciplinary studies program entail art and design,  journalism and media studies, and communication. Those subjects were selected to both appeal to prisoners鈥� interests and potentially prepare them for jobs in related fields when they are released, Buckley said.

鈥淲e wanted to give our students the opportunity and the skills to learn to tell their own stories as well as to tell stories around the world,鈥� Buckley said in explaining the choice of journalism as an additional field. 鈥淲e want to empower them to tell stories of mass incarceration through their own lived experience.鈥�

The new humanities degree program will be developed with input from students and colleagues across disciplines, including some who were formerly incarcerated, in the hope of making it 鈥渞esponsive to the needs and interests of the (prison) population.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 very honored and excited to have this opportunity from the Mellon Foundation to expand the program in meaningful ways to support students,鈥� said Buckley.

色情视频 President Adela de la Torre and Superintendent of the CDCR Office of Correctional Education Shannon Swain (center) visit the VISTA program alongside leadership from 色情视频, CDCR and Centinela State Prison. (色情视频)

Expanding an existing partnership 

The California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation has been a strong and essential partner in the program, Buckley noted. Unlike many similar programs, VISTA is specifically designed to serve students who are incarcerated from both the general population and those who have been separated into a more restricted population, a category that may include those convicted of specific offenses, ex-gang members or who identify as LGBTQ.

The humanities are an area of particular interest to the New York City-based Mellon Foundation, which supports the arts and humanities and identifies 鈥淚magining Freedom鈥� as one of its initiatives. The Mellon Foundation previously awarded 色情视频 grants in 1991 ($124,000) for and in 1997 ($100,000) in support of a program in .

鈥淲e are delighted to support 色情视频鈥檚 VISTA in bringing high quality liberal arts education to the drastically underserved incarcerated population at Centinela in the Imperial Valley, a population that has so much potential,鈥� said Mellon Senior Program Officer Carolyn Dinshaw.

Buckley said 色情视频 President Adela de la Torre鈥檚 support for the prison education program also was instrumental in securing the grant.

鈥淒ata clearly shows that those with college degrees not only lead happier, healthier and more stable lives, but are stronger contributors to their communities and to society,鈥� de la Torre said. 鈥淧roviding that transformative path to California鈥檚 incarcerated population aligns perfectly with 色情视频鈥檚 commitment to providing students of all backgrounds and identities with access and opportunity for brighter futures.鈥�