Since 2021, PEP has been working with Special Housing Units through LEAP packets (Learning, Engagement, and Activities Packets). The packets include essays, short stories, poems, activities, and artwork. They also include writing prompts throughout the packet,...
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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.
Book Donations to OSP Special Housing
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Now accepting artwork for the 2023 PEP art show!
Continuing what is now an annual tradition, we are preparing for the 2023 art show at the University of Oregon’s EMU, featuring currently incarcerated artists. We will have art to share soon! For now, here is our invitation to artists to participate. Call for...
Announcing Winter Inside-Out Classes
Back before the pandemic, we regularly had between two and four Inside-Out classes each term. It has been great to be back to it with our fall term class, and we are very excited to have two Inside-Out classes lined up for Winter 2023. They are “Existentialism...
Return to Inside-Out Courses
After what feels like an eternity, we’re excited to announce that the UO Prison Education Program is facilitating another Inside-Out course this fall term! It’s been a long two years without getting inside and outside students together in the classroom. Now, we’ve got...
Abridged Interview with Steve Durrant
At the request of one of our inside students, we’ve started asking program staff and instructors why they work with PEP. We’ll be including responses on our website and in our newsletters, so keep an eye out! Professor Steve Durrant, a professor of Chinese literature...
Celebrating One Year of LEAP!
In July of 2021, the Prison Education Program sent its first Learning Engagement and Activities Packets (LEAP) to OSP. LEAP is for folks in special housing units, and the idea for the project originally came from leaders on the inside. Readers can reflect on a range...
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.
