Barbara Shwom , Colin Hanner

The Northwestern Insider is, for many Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP) students, a long time coming. Inspired by other publications that they’ve contributed to, the Northwestern Insider aims…

To our students, our community, and those of you whom we may be meeting for the first time, welcome to the inaugural edition of the Northwestern Insider, the first magazine dedicated to showcasing the work of students from the Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP)!

Anthony Ehlers

A recent graduate from the Northwestern Prison Education Program reflects on the importance of education in carceral settings.

Tony Triplett

I remember dangling in the air, urine flowing down my leg, going in and out of consciousness and seeing the faces of everyone I loved. Moments of my life flashed before my eyes, right before the sheet snapped from the weight of my body. Motionless, I lay in my own urine, gasping for air, silently asking myself ‘Why me?’ With a debt of two natural life sentences owed to the state of Illinois, I was constantly questioning my own self-worth, while asking myself, ‘How can I pay this debt when I have only one life to live?’

Blanca Solis

As a Latina and immigrant, I thought that being incarcerated was going to be my biggest battle, but I was wrong. The language barrier was the real monster that I had to face at the beginning of my incarceration, and with that, the feeling of being powerless and voiceless.

Annalise Buth

There is not a singular definition of restorative justice, and it can be viewed as a framework, theory of justice, set of practices, movement, or way of life. Current restorative justice praxis is influenced by streams of practice in Indigenous Peacemaking, faith traditions, schools, criminal legal systems, and other communities.

Patty Ouska

Oftentimes, I struggle with my words when I am emotionally overwhelmed or simply unable to find the right words to describe what I want to convey. At those times, I look to the words of others.

NPEP Students

What Gives You Hope?

Erika Ray

Every day I choose to go on living in an unsteady world…

Tony Triplett

In the fall of 2022, Professor Mary Pattillo taught a course for Cohort 1 at Stateville on qualitative research methods, and each student was required to write an interview guide. One student, Tony Triplett, wrote a guide to interview Pattillo, to which she happily obliged. Below are her responses, edited for length and clarity.

Donnell Green

On Nov. 15, 2023, 16 Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP) students became the first incarcerated students to graduate from a top 10 university

Anthony Ehlers

Pondering 42 Years in Prison with James Soto…

D.C. Crite

I’ve seen my fair share of heroes. Some of them wear capes. Most of them do not. What they all share in common, though, is this: no matter how battered, bruised, broken, tired, and emotionally crippled by various disappointments they experience, they continue to try to save humanity…

Erika Ray

I am just another poet, so as you can imagine/ words roll off my lips easily, like the spreading of jam instead of jelly/ I am just another poet…

After more than four decades, NPEP graduate James Soto was released on December 14 from Stateville Correctional Center. James and his cousin, David Ayala, were fully exonerated from crimes they did not commit. After getting settled, James plans on attending law school and working at a law firm…

Chelsea Raker

Ian Valencia

Dré Patterson , Broderick Hollins

To celebrate the release of NPEP student Erika Ray’s new collection of poetry 42 and Freedom, the Northwestern Insider has published four of her poems. Two NPEP students, Dré Patterson and Broderick Hollins, respond with their reactions after reading.

NPEP Students

On Sept. 29, 2023, Northwestern students, alumni, and professors gathered at Stateville Correctional Center to discuss Jennifer Lackey’s new book, Criminal Testimonial Injustice. Six NPEP students and seven legal scholars and philosophers were given time to respond to the book.

Miguel Garcia

Hoy una…

Shurese Resé Bailey

Donnell Green

I was just informed that a federal prosecutor wants to speak with me. I’m in prison, so the last person I want to speak with is a prosecutor. I’m dissatisfied with my sentence and being held against my free will. A prosecutor put me where I am now…

LeShun Smith

Can you see me?

NPEP Staff

To and from our community…

NPEP

NPEP is proud to announce the winners and honorable mentions from the inaugural Janice Nora Lackey Award for Academic Excellence, named in honor of Janice Nora Lackey (1940–2012), who was a lifelong learner, a believer in the uniquely empowering nature of education, and the inspiration for the founding of the Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP).

Darya Tadlaoui , Broderick Hollins

A year and a half following his release from Stateville Correctional Center, Broderick Hollins sat down with NPEP intern Darya Tadlaoui to talk about when he first heard about NPEP, the day he got out, and the challenges he’s faced in the outside world.

William Peeples

James Hale

I wrote this poem for a final chemistry presentation, in which I chose to present about chemistry that deals with our emotions: cortisol, adrenaline, oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin. It just so happened at the time I learned about these chemicals, I experienced something that I’d never been to before that forever changed my life: NPEP graduation. It left me motivated to write my first poem.

Erika Ray

Stokely Carmichael believed that a Black woman does…

Dré Patterson

Sis came out swinging with a soul-piercing sword…

Broderick Hollins

42 and Freedom is energy to us impacted by the system, a powerful tool to get us by. Unheard…

Dré Patterson

This piece hits hard. I first came across this quote by Stokely Carmichael a year or so ago. He was pushing back against the Black feminist voice…

Dré Patterson

Tony Triplett

Seeing something and saying something are two different things. The problems within our criminal legal system are among those things…

Regina DeFrancisco

It was a fortuitous set of circumstances that brought Northwestern graduate student Sanjana Subramaniam to the Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP) and specifically…

Erika Ray

don’t you think you should be quiet yes, I know you can talk manipulate words and verbs in ways that make me feel heard heard is what you should aim not to be use your gift of beauty and become a part of the scenery

Lynn Green

Lynn Green, an NPEP graduate and intern with Illinois State Senator Rachel Ventura’s office, highlights four pieces of legislation that may affect certain members of our community.

Elbonie Burnside , Margaret DeFrancisco

The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 opened the door for each state in the country to adopt the Truth-in-Sentencing