Professor, students teach inmates

Writing class allows inmates to express
themselves.

By BRIANNA HERNANDEZ
Reporter

Jimmy Santiago Baca left his past behind in 1992 — a past that included illiteracy, poverty, drug abuse and prison time.

In his 1992 memoir, “A Place to Stand,” Baca remembers his five-year sentence in New Mexico’s Florence State prison. Baca was a troubled 21-year-old when he entered prison on drug charges but left a changed man after discovering his passion for writing: “When I write, I bid farewell to myself. I leave most of what I know behind and wander through the landscape of language.”

Dr. Kathleen Rettig, assistant professor of English, uses Baca’s memoir in her service-learning class. Her class, Writing and Working for Justice, allows students to teach writing classes to inmates at Douglas County Department of Corrections. She and two Creighton students visit DCDC inmates every Tuesday. She said she hopes the inmates will have an experience similar to Baca’s.

“Many of the inmates are inspired by Baca’s work,” Rettig said. “It gives them hope about their own life.”

This year, Rettig is teaching American Prisons for the first time. She and her students volunteer at DCDC for an hour-and-a-half and then return to campus for class. Rettig and her students always take time to reflect and discuss their experiences, she said.

She developed the course herself after attending a seminar about teaching writing classes in the prison system. She plans to rename the course “American Prisons: Punish or Reform?” Rettig described this semester’s class as a “pilot course.”

“I’m still figuring out what works and what doesn’t,” she said.
That includes the reading material for the class. Rettig requires her students to read autobiographical literature like Baca’s. Reading autobiographies helps students “understand the motives behind the inmates’ crimes.”

They teach classes of up to 15 inmates at a time. There are only a few inmates who return regularly. Rettig said inmates are constantly being moved or released.

She said writing allows inmates to “find out who they are” and lets them reflect about their actions. It is important for inmates to “know themselves” to change their lives, she said.

“In order to make a change, you have to understand yourself,” she said. “It’s important that they reflect about what they’ve done.”

Rettig and her students give inmates the opportunity to write about whatever topic they choose. Some inmates write letters home or letters to their lawyers. Many inmates, inspired by Baca, are writing memoirs and autobiographies.

Rettig said that like Baca, many of the inmates she teaches are in DCDC on drug-related charges.

“Volunteering at DCDC has shown us just how much damage drugs — especially meth — are doing to lives of everyday people,” she said. “It’s so sad — these people were parents and neighbors before they were criminals.”

She said volunteering at DCDC has “opened her eyes to the misconceptions about criminals.”

“The majority of the people in there are not violent,” she said. “They are just like you and me. They are just like the students at Creighton.”

Rettig said the inmates have had an impact on her and her students.

“A large part of our role is just listening to what the inmates have to say,” she said. “It’s so heartbreaking to listen to them talk about how much they miss their kids. That’s what really makes you see these inmates as people.”

Arts & Sciences junior Katelyn Cherney said she was initially nervous about visiting DCDC.

“I, embarrassingly enough, feared that someone might become violent,” she said. “It seems so silly now, but I went in with a Hollywood conception of what it meant to be a criminal.”

Rettig and her students said they were surprised when they met the inmates for the first time.

“I wasn’t prepared for how young they were,” Rettig said. “They weren’t much older than my students.”

Arts & Sciences junior Bethany Widman said the inmates are amazing individuals.

“They are so nice and really want to be there and learn,” she said. “They want to turn their lives around and make a difference.”

The class will be offered next spring as a senior perspective. Although the course is in the English department, anyone can enroll in the class.

“The students seem to really like it,” Rettig said. “I think they are hoping that they will find the time to continue volunteering there.”

Widman said students should take advantage of service-learning classes because hands-on experience is different from a lecture-based class.

“Service-leaning classes like this one allow you to be immersed in a totally different subculture, Widman said. “It’s a must-have experience.”

Cherney agrees. She said students should not be threatened by the service-learning classes.

“Challenge yourself and be intentional in making yourself uncomfortable,” she said. “It will enrich your classroom experience tenfold.”

She said any student can benefit from taking the class. The inmates are especially grateful for the time Creighton students spend with them.

“They always come up to me and thank me at the end of class,” Rettig said. “I can’t imagine my students at Creighton coming up to me after every class to say ‘thank you.’ They appreciate us coming to see them.”