Category: News

Kyle’s involvement with the Prison Education Program has been nothing short of transformative. What began by taking a course during his incarceration has evolved into a lifelong commitment to advocacy, community building, and a passion for reshaping the way we think about education, both inside and outside of prisons.

For over a decade while inside Oregon prisons, he was told that education was not an option for him, due to the length of his sentence. However, the Prison Education Program was different. Our courses are not restricted by degree limitations nor length of sentence, making them accessible to incarcerated individuals like Kyle. His first class was through the University of Oregon’s Clark Honors College, where he studied juvenile delinquency. This proved to be an eye-opening experience. After taking a few more classes, including one on Northern Ireland’s history and conflict, Kyle became deeply invested in the P.E.P. He participated in monthly meetings with the program’s steering committee inside the Oregon State Penitentiary, which worked to expand access to education and raise awareness about its importance in both prison and community settings. Additionally, Kyle is graduating this term from the University of Oregon with a Bachelors degree in Crime, Law, and Policy.The P.E.P.’s role as a think tank for educational access provided Kyle with a platform to work on practical solutions to barriers faced by incarcerated students.

Kyle also began advocating for the program beyond the classroom. Already engaged in advocacy work through prison clubs, he saw the opportunity to bring these conversations to a broader level—statewide. His advocacy extended to creating educational resources and helping students across the state engage with higher education while incarcerated. After 28 years in prison Kyle was granted an early release by Governor Brown and he was eager to continue his work both as a P.E.P. alum and on prison issues more broadly. 

One of the highlights of Kyle’s journey with P.E.P. has been the sense of community and camaraderie it fosters. After his release, he hosted a P.E.P. reunion event, inviting former inside students, interns, and staff for a gathering that included food, crafts, and social time. As an alum, he continues to engage in presentations, advocacy, and outreach, sharing his story and encouraging others to participate in the program.

On his professional journey, Kyle has been working as a policy and legislative outreach coordinator with the Oregon Justice Resource Center, where he focuses on higher education, healthcare access, and security concerns. His role involves meeting with legislators, providing testimony, and engaging in coalition efforts to promote change. The featured photo is Kyle with PEP Interns at University Lobby Day in 2024. His deep understanding of the barriers faced by incarcerated individuals shapes his advocacy and fuels his efforts to improve policies that impact people both inside and outside the prison system. Kyle is also involved in helping build transitional housing for formerly incarcerated people. 

He believes that providing access to education is a powerful way to break down barriers, change lives, and strengthen communities. “It made an incredible impact on my life,” Kyle says, and he encourages others to get involved, telling them “It’s going to change your life.”

Aside from courses, the PEP has been deepening our relationship with Sponsors Inc., Inc.- an organization supporting formerly incarcerated adults in the Eugene area. In 2023, PEP interns started visiting Sponsors, Inc. every week to offer drop-in technological support for formerly incarcerated adults such as help with help registering for social security, learning how to search for job opportunities online, or setting up a budget, while also helping with the creation of digital resources that are utilized by the staff in the presentations and other work. Since then, this partnership has expanded to volunteers going to Sponsors, Inc. multiple times per week and people now have become used to having a place to turn to for their questions and assistance on a variety of topics. UO students have joined PEP interns to increase the capacity of the work. Non-intern volunteers are a mix of people who have participated with the PEP through Inside-Out courses, who heard about the program through their academic programs, or a peer at the university.

Our partnership with Sponsors, Inc. creates a meaningful impact by increasing the capacity of the organization working to improve formerly incarcerated adults’ lives, Student volunteers are able to gain valuable experience while making an important contribution to individuals, the organization, and the community, and thePEP is very grateful to be in partnership with Sponsors, Inc. and to bridge our programs to increase the resources available in Eugene.

During fall term, the PEP operated in both the Oregon State Penitentiary and Oregon State Correctional Institution to offer two inside-out courses and two inside courses. We had a total of 72 inside students during the term. One of our courses, Mercy and the Rule of Law, an inside-out course at OSCI proved to be an insightful experience for inside and outside students alike. To learn more about this experience, our PEP intern, JJ, shared her insights from being the course’s learning assistant (LA) where she coordinated course logistics, gave feedback on student’s assignments, and served as an assistant to professor Kristen Bell.

This is JJ’s second year as an intern with the PEP. During her time with the program, she has taken on a variety of roles including but not limited to serving as our administrative intern for the current school year, helping with art show coordination, and serving on the fundraising committee. As a General Social Sciences student on the pre-law track, JJ was perfectly suited to be the LA for this course.

Mercy and the Rule of Law focused on philosophical topics and how they relate to the legal system.

Specifically, JJ said that “the students altogether were challenged to think holistically about arguments and theoretical concepts in philosophy in law,” and this led to a strong community mindset within the course’s students. Furthermore, the class was challenged to come together to discuss topics that often led to unanswerable questions, pushing students to further engage with one another.”

Personally, JJ believes that her experiences as an LA have impacted her life beyond the classroom. Particularly, it challenged her to learn about concepts more specifically and to empathize with the students as she learned about them through their work for the class. She believes that this experience taught her how to think more clearly in the realm of problem-solving, and says that the experience was “truly invaluable.”