I Met My Best Students in Jail
I’ve been wanting to write about what it’s like to teach college English to students in jail, but I’m worried that my writing skills are too limited, that I might reach for a boring word like “rewarding” or “inspiring” and disappoint myself and you. And I also worry, unreasonably, that when teachers find out what I have to say, everyone might want to teach in jail — and I could be pushed out as the competition surges.
To reach my students at the Elmwood Correctional Facility, I must surrender my driver’s license and allow my bags to be searched — no cell phones, no paperclips, nothing but books and paper and my own pen. Inside the complex, I walk along a half mile of barbed wire fencing and pass through nine locked gates to get to the dorm where I teach my classes. This dorm houses over 60 inmates, and 25 of these are my students. We have class in the eating area, the students sitting on steel stools attached to steel tables. Whenever I make a move to sit down, several of the men rush to get me one of the rare “comfortable” plastic chairs.
To read the rest of this article, please visit my new home here: https://jenhurley.substack.com/p/i-met-my-best-students-in-jail
