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The Conversation Project offers Oregon nonprofits free programs that engage community members in thoughtful, challenging conversations about ideas critical to our daily lives and our state's future. Conversations are facilitated by some of Oregon's most respected humanities scholars.
What role do prisons serve in our country? Is it possible to envision a world where people are safe and secure, and where there is accountability, without prisons? Does our prison system, in some cases, actually cause rather than reduce crime? Participants in this program will begin by exploring what they know about prisons. After a brief multimedia history of prisons and alternative justice systems, Walidah Imarisha, author and adjunct professor in Portland State University’s department of Black studies, will lead a conversation about alternatives to incarceration.
Comment on this program. (1 so far)
Equipment required: digital projector, screen, speakers
Program available through October 2013
Walidah Imarisha has researched prison issues for more than ten years. She helped found the Human Rights Coalition, a prisoners’ family organization in Pennsylvania that now has three chapters. She has also facilitated writing workshops in correctional facilities and public schools. Imarisha was a founding editor of AWOL Magazine and coedited the 9/11 anthology Another World is Possible. She developed and guest edited an edition of Left Turn magazine that focused on alternatives to incarceration and is now part of the editorial collective of Left Turn. Imarisha has taught in Portland State University’s Black Studies Department.
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Commentary
Hi,
I am interested in the issue of prisons, in your project. I am writing an essay as part of a Leadership Program I recently completed. Its title - Spirituality in State Government / Is It Part of the Current or New Model? I see your efforts as stemming from spirituality and would like to be informed of your findings. Is the world asking for a new model?
Good luck!
Laurent
Laurent | Salem, OR | 08 Dec at 03:27 PM
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Oregon Humanities welcomes your commentary. We encourage lively public discourse and civil debate, but please be respectful in expressing your views.