Mount Tamalpais College

Campus & Community

Call for Paper Proposals—Academic Conference at San Quentin

by

On October 5, the Prison University Project will host an academic conference at San Quentin State Prison in which incarcerated students and outside scholars will exchange ideas about “Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reform.” This will be one of the few academic conferences ever held inside a prison in the U.S., and we are eager to broker a dialogue in which academic scholarship and those within the sphere of the criminal justice system support and improve one another.

In an era in which “rehabilitation” is increasingly rewarded but nevertheless difficult to quantify, in which prison populations increase at the same time as abolitionist movements intensify, and in which racial and economic injustice are prime contributors to prison overpopulation, it is urgent to generate new ideas. While many scholars outside of prison focus on just these questions, we posit that the answers are inadequate until incarcerated scholars are able to weigh in on the debates that shape their own lives and futures. This conference seeks solutions for the ills of the criminal justice system in the U.S. that came about in the 20th century. We believe that if incarcerated Americans come together with scholars from the outside, we might generate valuable debates and ideas about the direction that 21st century reform might take.

The Prison University Project has been running a college for people incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison since 1996. We run twenty classes each semester and have over 700 active students. The mission of the Prison University Project is to provide excellent higher education to people at San Quentin; to support increased access to higher education for incarcerated people; and to stimulate public awareness about higher education access and criminal justice.

Panels will range from the practical, to the theoretical, to the programmatic; possible topics may include, but certainly will not be limited to, the following:

Practical
-Social isolation and education
-The school-to-prison pipeline
-Educational goals and incarcerated students
-Social and cultural relevance in curricula and faculty training
-The place of technology in incarcerated spaces

Theoretical
-Socio-biology and criminal behavior
-Cognitive biases in the criminal justice system
-Communitarian, civil-society oriented approaches to incarceration
-The impact of prison higher education on individual and social behavior
-The impact of academic culture on social behavior and expectations

Programmatic
-The meaning of resilience
-Uses of technology in prison education
-The role of technology in alternatives to incarceration

Please note that the Prison University Project became Mount Tamalpais College in September 2020.

Statewide Training on Higher Education in Prisons, March 18 – 20 2018

by

The Prison University Project is pleased to host this statewide education and training conference for practitioners of in-prison higher education, as well as others who are interested in learning more about the field, March 18 – 20 at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in San Rafael.

Important links for attendees are below.

REGISTER FOR THE CONFERENCE.

BOOK YOUR HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS.

FULL CONFERENCE AGENDA: Training Conference March 2018 Agenda

SITE VISIT SCHEDULE: Site Visit Schedule March 18 & 20

SAN QUENTIN RULES FOR VISITORS: SQ Rules for Visitors, 2018

 

Please note that the Prison University Project became Mount Tamalpais College in September 2020.

TEDxSanQuentin: Life Revealed

by

On January 22nd, 2016, TEDxSanQuentin brought together incarcerated individuals and community members from the outside to share innovative ideas about criminal justice reform. The theme of the event was “Life Revealed,” and was aimed at using the global TEDx platform to bridge the divide between society and the incarcerated in order to promote safer and healthier communities. Many of the inside speakers are college students with the Prison University Project.

Read Story

Please note that the Prison University Project became Mount Tamalpais College in September 2020.

My Daughter, My Hero

by

Prison University Project student Sam Johnson talks about how he found healing in prison through reconnecting with his daughter. After being incarcerated for 22 years, Sam was released on February 24.

Sam Johnson was Executive Chairman of the Men’s Advisory Council at San Quentin, meeting with the Warden and administration to represent the interests of the inmate population. He’s a facilitator for Insight Prison Project’s Victim Offender Education Group, and Co-Leader of the Alliance for Change Mentor Department.

Please note that the Prison University Project became Mount Tamalpais College in 2020.

Volunteer Spotlight: Dan Wheeler

by

In our volunteer spotlight, we’re sharing stories from the volunteers and community members that are making an impact.

Tell us about yourself.

Hi, friends! I’ve lived in San Francisco since 2010, Boston and Brooklyn before then, but I was born in the Bay and grew up in Oregon. My parents have a background in education and I’ve always enjoyed teaching. Professionally, I work as a programmer on the security team at Dropbox. We stop shadowy criminal organizations from stealing your bitcoins among other paranoid endeavors. I’m one of the elementary algebra lecturers and taught precalculus study group in the fall. In the past I TA’d computer science at MIT and worked as a summer lecturer at the University of Split in Croatia and Qinghai University in Western China.

What’s been the most surprising thing about teaching at San Quentin?

I went into San Quentin with many stereotypical preconceptions about inmates: the importance of conformity, that the tallest blade of grass gets cut down, that any visible weakness or deviation will be exploited by guards and fellow inmates. Going in with these memes, it was a surprise to encounter Jeff’s flower garden outside EDU on my first day. It helped me realize that the situation is more complex. Before being there, I expected much less class participation from students out of fear of giving incorrect answers. It’s been quite the opposite so far: my students are generally vocal, humorous, ask questions, and don’t sweat it when they make a mistake in front of the class (they also don’t hesitate to point out my mistakes).

What are some of the biggest challenges you face as an instructor?

Elementary algebra has been harder to teach than precalculus. It’s been longer since I learned that material myself and I’ve internalized the concepts to the point where it’s sometimes hard to explain them from first principles with good examples and analogies. For example, why does x – (-y) = x + y? I’ve gotten better at jumping to the right visualizations, such as temperatures on a thermometer: “how much warmer is 5 degrees than -2 degrees”? The other big challenge in Elementary Algebra is the wider spectrum of prior math experience. I’m still learning how to set the right pace.

What do you enjoy most about teaching?

In general, I love learning, and teaching is a great excuse to continue learning interesting subjects. What I enjoy most at San Quentin is the motivation level of the students. Compared to high school and college-aged students I’ve taught in the past, at San Quentin, I’ve never had students that were more eager to learn the material and put in the work.

Tell us about your favorite memory in the classroom.

As an elective, Fall Precalculus had about 6 students, with 2 showing up regularly to study group. At first I assumed they needed more help than the others, but it was the opposite: they were there to geek out on math. They’d want to do the hard problems at the back of the chapter that weren’t on the homework, or ask questions about the history of math, or learn how to prove the material they were learning, even though none of that was in the syllabus. My biggest success was getting them to a point where they could beat me at a rotating trigonometry game that got more advanced each week. It started with “who can draw a unit circle the fastest with all the 30/45 degree multiples labeled” and ended with “what’s the x of y”, where x is any trig function: “what’s the arctan of -root(3)?” –> “-pi/3 radians.”

Please note that the Prison University Project became Mount Tamalpais College in September 2020.