Prison as an Expanded Campus

Embedding correction site into campus culture

HEP programs, by nature, are physically separated from main campus environments. Yet programs can take steps to ensure that students inside are integrated as part of the university. Bringing VISTA to the main campus is an ongoing effort. Team members identify campus events to consider inclusion. One goal in implementing VISTA was to integrate the prison classroom with the broader SDSU main campus culture. For example, VISTA:

• Provided students with updates about major events on campus
• Facilitated routine discussions about main campus events
• Posted SDSU related banners, posters, and other representation in classroom
• Participated in on-campus research events
• Developed structured visits for on campus students to the prison classroom

Integrating HEP students into main campus

This work begins with identifying opportunities for inclusion in existing campus activities and academic spaces. Program teams can work across departments to determine where participation is possible and appropriate. At VISTA, this has included participation in campus-wide events such as research symposiums, where students can present their work through posters, written submissions, or recorded presentations. Other examples include publishing student work in campus outlets such as The Daily Aztec, building connections with programs like Project Rebound, and creating pathways for students to engage with academic and co-curricular communities beyond the prison classroom.

Co-creating culture with students and team

Students and the VISTA team co-create and foster a thriving culture through routine and ongoing interactions and project development. This co-creation of culture takes place across multiple spaces, including the classroom, student support workshops, the Canvas learning platform, and in the planning and preparation for major events. It also includes collaboration with prison education and custody staff, who play an important role in supporting the learning environment.

What values and best practices can cultivate a positive learning culture?

• Mutual respect and accountability
• Student voice and leadership
• Curiosity and critical thinking
• Collaboration and peer support
• Consistency and trust over time

“Conceptually and broadly, it's allowing and cultivating the experience for our students to feel that they are SDSU students…I think that identity is one of the biggest driving forces. And then, more specifically, what does that look like in practice? We've had students from the main campus engaged in dialogue with students at the prison, which has been one of the most meaningful experiences for our students on both campuses…We'll do that annually now because it's so successful. We've had students at the Centinela campus share their research at the main campus Research Fair and then have a complimentary mini Research Fair at Centinela State Prison. These are some of the ways we try to mirror student experiences, but they're never going to be an exact mirror. It's always going to be more about equity than equality …but we try to make it as similar as we can and bring in the experiences that will be most relevant to our students.”

“After graduating and being part of the first cohort, that experience was amazing. To be able to meet with the students from [SDSU Main Campus] when we did the event here and they came and met us, and we interacted and we took home different perceptions about the material. What we're getting is the same material, the same curriculum as on campus. And I think that is great. And one of the things that a lot of teachers told us was the way that we were …studying and trying to get A's and the community that was built within us because we've gotten to know each other because of this experience. That's something that for sure stands out. And [our teachers] noticed off the bat just us wanting to succeed because you're giving us an opportunity to better ourselves and just get a chance to make it home.”

“I love commencements, let's start with that. It's always an exciting day. Students get to celebrate all the hard work they do. You see their families, it's super amazing. But that experience walking into the prison [graduation ceremony] and watching people and talking to them and talking to their families, you know there's the impact of the program, right? You understand it when you're building it and you're working on it, but to see those graduates, to talk to them, to talk to their families was probably one of the most moving days of my life. It was incredible. And I look forward so much to this year's graduation again. It's just transformational for them. And so, yeah, and to be part of it, how cool is that? I'm so proud to even have touched it this much.”

“Aside from the fact that these students have experienced enormous trauma and the classroom is not a conventional classroom, I could tell you that countless times students have shared with us that when they're with us, they're no longer in prison. They are on the campus of the university. They are in a classroom and prison gets left at the door. And I'll be honest with you, that really uplifts me as both a staff member, as somebody that they respect, as somebody that they lean on, because it tells me that we have reinvented this, that we have reinvented their surroundings and made them feel comfortable enough with us that transcends any fence, that transcends any barbed wire. It has been a very fulfilling experience for me.”