Sub-categories in this issue

• Prisoner Education and Reentry 

Types of Service   short-term  |  ongoing school year  |  summer

The following activities are ongoing--all year round.

• Bonner Community Scholar Prisoner Education Project:  Bonner students and staff work with a class of inmates at the Wagner Correctional Facility (maximum and medium security), delivering mini civics lessons and working with them on a 1-1 one basis to help them prepare for the GED.
• Bonner Community Scholar Prisoner Writing Project:  A Bonner alum and education major is co-teaching a reflective writing course entitled "People and Stories".

Academic Work   courses  |  service-learning  |  CBR and policy research   |  departments and institutes

One short-term class-based project took place during the 2008-2009 academic year.

• Women In Learning and Leadership Capstone Project (WGS496): Students in this capstone course created the Libraries Educating all Prisoners Project, which culminated in the delivery of a a few hundred books for the the Albert "Bo" Robinson Treatment Center.  More information on Will can be found at http://www.tcnj.edu/~will/index.html

The following class-based projects occured in the 2008-2009 year and most, if not all, will continue on an annual basis.

•  Incarceration Nation (First Year Seminar):  This course, taught by Dr. Michelle Tarter (English),  focuses on literature that has been produced about prisoners--and by prisoners.  It includes a community-engaged learning component that is shaped collaboratively with the Bonner Center and supported by upper level Bonner Community Scholars. 
• Woman Is the Word:  Each year, Dr. Michelle Tarter and two independent study students teach a 12 week memoir writing class to female inmates at Trenton State Prison or the Edna Mahon Correctional Facility.  The Bonner Center has provided material support as well as access to student scholarships to help advance the project.
• History and Culture of Prisons/Inside Out Project:  Professor Celia Chazelle (History) will teach a course annually in the Wagner Correctional Facility, starting in the Fall 2009.  TCNJ students will be joined by inmates from Wagner Correctional Facility--who will be auditing the class.  A Bonner Community Scholar student is enrolled in the course and others will act in the capacity of CEL (community engaged learning) Assistants.   Professor Chazelle taught a similar course (non credit) to Wagner inmates during the current academic year.
• Wrongful Convictions (First Year Seminar): This course, taught by Professor Lynn Goedekke, will take a tour and engage in a dialogue with inmates from Wagner or another facility.  The Bonner Center will work with the professor to recruit the students to participate in working group activities outside of this course and during the spring.

The current plan also calls for contacting a handful of professor who might have an interest in connecting their course to a community engaged learning project and the needs of our prisoner education and reentry partners.  These include--but are not limited to--two Law and Justice courses (the Senior Capstone in Policy Analysis and Advanced Criminology/Juvenile Delinquency and Justice.

Education & Training   forums  |  workshops  |  reflection activities

• InkARCERATION:  This website provides (http://inkarcerated.intrasun.tcnj.edu/) provides information and resources to others who wish to implement memior writing workshops in prisons.  It was created by Professor Tarter
• See below for other related activites and projects.

Organizational Capacity-Building   training  |  fundraising  |  resource development

At this stage in the development of the working group, the College's community partners and colleagues are enhancing the capacity of the higher ed world. They are doing so in the following ways-

• Wagner/Volunteer Training and Orientation:  Bonner students and alums who are interested in the education service projects participate in workshop that equips them to teach in a correctional setting.
• Inside Out Training: TCNJ professors who will teach credit bearing courses-with undergraduates and inmates in the same class--will participate in a three day training, starting this summer.  This national project is located at Temple University.

The Working Group is currently working on the capacity-building agenda for the 2009-2010 year.

Research, Policy Analysis, Deliberative Democracy   evaluations  |  policy research  | issue forums  |  advocacy

The working group will further develop the Research, Policy Analysis, and Deliberative Democracy agenda during it's next meeting.  It currently includes two types of projects.

• Issue Brief Project:  Bonner Community Scholars are currently working on two Issue Briefs.  The two guiding question are   

               1.  What are the most effective approaches to increasing the number of inmates obtaining their GED or high school degree while in jail?

               2.  What are the most effective means of increasing the number of men who exit prison and reenter the workforce/private sector? 

• Critical Issue Forums: Each Bonner Community Scholar Team organizes one educational forum per year.  The corrections/justice team will create two.  The focus of the two will be--tentatively--

               1.  Education and Prisons: How are we Doing in New Jersey?

               2.  Reentry and Employment: Barriers and Consequences

Contacts   staff  |  faculty  |  students  |  community partners (local, regional, national)

•   Patrick Donohue, Director--The Bonner Center for Civic and Community Engagement
•   Celia Chazelle, Professor--History Department
•   Bruce Stout, Professor--Law and Justice Department
•   Michelle Tarter, Professor--English Department