FALL 2023 / THE ETHICS OF AMBIGUITY / HC444/431H / DAWN MARLAN Institutions manage and process people. Medicine, like many institutions, tends to define people in terms of their problems – disease, drugs, mental illness. Fiction inverts this structure, seeing...
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The Prison Education Program at the University of Oregon
The Prison Education Program was established in 2016, founded in response to an expansion from the Inside-Out classes that began at the UO in 2007. We are now active in offering classes, not-for-credit opportunities, and in working to advance educational opportunities for people who are incarcerated statewide.
In addition to offering for-credit classes inside the prisons, we also have a variety of not-for-credit activities, including:
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Book discussions, including bilingual discussions conducted in Spanish and English
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Academic workshops, including academic writing and communication skills
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A UO student internship and “alumni” program – students are involved in assisting with classes, running a discussion group at a juvenile facility, holding outreach events with at-risk youth, and running book drives to support prison education.
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Educational TV programming sent to all Oregon institutions through PEP TV
- Learning, Engagement, and Activities Packets (LEAP) and correspondence for people in special housing units
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Lectures by UO faculty on a wide variety of subjects
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Coordinated engagement between clubs at OSP and corresponding clubs at the UO
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On-campus an inside exhibitions of artwork by insiders donated to the program
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Book donations to multiple prisons, including special requests from staff at the prisons for particular subject areas and Spanish language materials
We work in an interdisciplinary academic framework, and with a broad range of students, campus organizations, community groups, and national organizations working to improve educational opportunities in prisons.
Apply to Spring Inside Out Classses
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Sister Helen Prejean Visiting the UO in May
The University of Oregon’s Prison Education Program invites you to a public talk by award winning author Sister Helen Prejean. A longtime advocate for the poor and disenfranchised, Sister Helen is an international leader in the movement to abolish the death...
Community Request: Feedback on PEP’s 3rd Art Show
In 2022, Prison Education Program collected feedback from our community and beyond on Resonance: Art from Inside. We compiled the feedback into a booklet that we mailed to the artists who generously donated their talents to the show. Along with photos of their art...
Oregon State Legislature on Higher Education in Prisons
Last month, our very own Prison Education Program Director, Shaul Cohen, testified to the Oregon State Legislature on higher education in prisons. Shaul was invited to the legislature’s House Committee on Judiciary on behalf of University of Oregon’s Prison Education...
Sense of Place: Art from Inside
Sense of Place is a creative exhibition of the artwork created by over 20 artists who are incarcerated in prisons across the state of Oregon. In recognition of the incredible talent of these artists, the University of Oregon Prison Education Program and the EMU Center...
Apply to Upcoming Spring 2023 Inside Out Courses!
SPRING 2023 / AUTOBIOGRAPHY AS POLITICAL AGENCY / HC431H / ANITA CHARI This class explores the autobiography as a form of both personal and political expression. We begin by complicating, questioning and demystifying the divide between the personal and political by...
The University of Oregon’s Prison Education Program stands against racism in all its forms – overt, unconscious, and systemic. We are committed to combating inequality and violence through conversations in our classes, our projects, and among ourselves.
We stand in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, recognizing the unequal violence and structural hardships faced by our Black students, neighbors, colleagues, and leaders.
We hope that in this moment greater equality can be achieved for all those who suffer discrimination and prejudice. We commit to being present in that fight.
One of the inspirations for Inside-Out’s pedagogy, Paolo Freire, uses the analogy that “we make the road by walking.” We as a society are making that way forward now – through protests in the streets, independent study, tough conversations, and interruption of violence and discrimination. We commit to continuing in that work – to use another quote that frequently appears in our programmatic conversations, “once you know, you owe.” The existence and impact of systemic racism is not new news to us, and we recommit ourselves to the ongoing work of social justice through education and dialogue.
