By Elaine Leeder

For the last fifteen years, I have been teaching and running self-help groups at prisons, one in New York State and another at San Quentin State Prison in California. Since I began this work, a most remarkable thing has happened: I have come to learn that “prisoners are people, too”—and that they have the same emotions, problems, and concerns as those of us out in the “free world.”

Whether they have committed murder, robbery, or kidnapping—or aided and abetted such crimes—all of them have families who have been terribly impacted by their crimes, as have the victims and their families. When I first started working with these people, I was fearful for my life and safety. What I have found since then is that by and large, they care about me as a human being, that they appreciate the concern of an average citizen, and that they are not the terrible animals portrayed in shows like “Lockup.” Once I got past my fears, I realized that these people want to change their lives, and are seeking human connection with fellow prisoners, their families, and the volunteers who work with them in prison.

Now, I am not a “bleeding heart liberal,” nor am I naïve. I understand that they have committed terrible crimes, but the fact is that most of these lifers have rehabilitated themselves in prison—in spite of the prison system, not because of it. There are certainly still those who are just doing time, but the men I have worked with spend their days productively.

Many go to their jobs at the prison, come back to their cells, shower, and then go to classes for their GEDs or to college classes. They also go to self-help groups such as a Victim/Offender Reconciliation program, Narcotics and Alcoholics Anonymous, and other similar programs. There, they are confronted with their violent pasts and the consequences of their behaviors for others. They begin to feel remorse, take responsibility for their actions, and eventually learn how to be better human beings.

When they are in prison, they lose their voting rights, and other basic human rights are compromised. In a system such as ours, we view them as non-human, and we forget about them. We lock them up and throw away the key, ignoring the fact that people are rotting away in these places we choose not to think about.

I have chosen not to forget them, and to bring their stories to public awareness. The way we often treat these people is a concession to our worst instincts, but we as a society are better than that. There is a responsibility we all have—to ourselves and our society—to learn about and understand what prison conditions really are, to accept the fact that the “get tough on crime” approach has not worked, and begin to realize that issues like “three strikes,” life sentences for juveniles, and the death penalty affect all of us, and are not just the personal property of the reactionary right wing that has dominated this discussion in the past.

Elaine Leeder is Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University, and has recently published her latest book, My Life With Lifers: Lessons for a Teacher, Humanity Has No Bars. She has worked for over 15 years at Elmira Correctional Facility in New York and San Quentin State Prison in California. Follow her on twitter@ElaineLeeder or at MyLifeWithLifers



