{"id":1524,"date":"2021-07-22T15:12:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T22:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/first-inside-out-prison-exchange-course-makes-prisoners-and-students-classmates\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T22:05:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T05:05:45","slug":"prison-exchange-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/prison-exchange-course\/","title":{"rendered":"First \u201cInside-Out\u201d prison-exchange course makes prisoners and students classmates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                          \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3515-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3515-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"First \u201cInside-Out\u201d prison-exchange course makes prisoners and students classmates\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  A USC Dornsife course on memoir writing gave undergraduates and incarcerated women a chance to work through the isolation imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. (Image Source: iStock\/proksima.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=student\">Student<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>First \u201cInside-Out\u201d prison-exchange course makes prisoners and students classmates<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Women incarcerated at the California Institution for Women joined a class on memoir writing alongside USC students, facilitating empathy and new perspectives on prison. <strong>[4 min read]<\/strong>\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Margaret Crable<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">July 22, 2021<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m7.43475275 9.52380952-2.17490843 2.26076008c-1.08745421 1.058837-1.68841575 2.518315-1.68841575 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xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m8.14285714 9.42857143c-.17142857 0-.34285714 0-.51428571.08571428l7.28571427 6.34285719c.3428572.2571428.6857143.2571428.9428572 0l7.2857142-6.34285719c-.0857142-.08571428-.2571428-.08571428-.4285714-.08571428zm-1.28571428 1.11428567v.1714286 8.5714286c0 .6857143.6 1.2857143 1.28571428 1.2857143h14.57142856c.6857143 0 1.2857143-.6 1.2857143-1.2857143v-8.5714286c0-.0857143 0-.0857143 0-.1714286l-7.2 6.3428572c-.7714286.6857143-1.8857143.6857143-2.6571429 0z\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" transform=\"translate(-6 -9)\"\/><\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Email<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                  <\/span>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n \n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>Roughly 50 miles east of USC\u2019s University Park campus, some 1,500 prisoners serve time at the California Institution for Women. Above the exercise yard stand three large guard towers on which guards holding shotguns scan for escape attempts.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a considerably different atmosphere than the university campus, where students usually zip freely to class on skateboards between green lawns. This spring semester, however, residents of the prison and USC undergraduates temporarily became classmates in the WRIT 320 course \u201cInside Out Writing Workshop\u201d at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the first time a class using the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.insideoutcenter.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Inside-Out<\/a>\u00a0model, in which prisoners and college students enroll in the same course, has been offered at USC.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/cf\/faculty-and-staff\/faculty.cfm?pid=1038704\">Kate Levin,<\/a>\u00a0assistant professor (teaching) of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/writing-program\/\">writing<\/a>, feels that the course empowered both prisoners and students at a crucial time. Many students were struggling through a challenging and isolating year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prisoners, trapped in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/projects\/california-coronavirus-cases-tracking-outbreak\/state-prisons\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hotbeds of COVID-19<\/a>, were feeling powerless. Writing memoir was a chance to take back some control over their own narrative.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThroughout our lives, we often find ourselves having narratives imposed\u00a0<i>on<\/i> us, especially those in prison, but no one knows their own story and can tell their own story the way the writer themself can,\u201d says Levin. \u201cWriting about your life is a way of wresting control of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Writing their way out<\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 315px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/PEP_Memoir_InStoryA-3515.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of Nik de Dominic and Kate Levin.\" width=\"315\" height=\"490\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Course instructors Nik De Dominic (left) and Kate Levin. (Photo: Courtesy of Nik De Dominic and Kate Levin.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Levin and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/cf\/faculty-and-staff\/faculty.cfm?pid=1055764\">Nik De Dominic<\/a>, assistant professor (teaching) of writing, lead the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/pep\">Prison Education Project<\/a>, in which USC students volunteer in college classes offered to prisoners. The two recently decided to offer a class where both the incarcerated and USC students could conduct coursework together, rather than just having students as passive observers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt creates a more democratic and equitable classroom if all of the participants are there\u00a0as students,\u201d says Levin.\u00a0She and De Dominic took training in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange format then in the spring offered their WRIT 320 class, which focused on teaching autobiography.<\/p>\n<p>Each USC student was partnered with one or two incarcerated students. Prisoners and USC students shared writing assignments over JPAY, the prison\u2019s electronic messaging system, along with feedback and constructive criticism. To ensure safety, the students remained essentially anonymous to each other, knowing only each other\u2019s first names.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the semester, all of the students submitted a final piece. Their stories were recently gathered and printed in a new book titled\u00a0<i>I\u2019ll Write My Way Out<\/i>, edited by Levin and De Demonic.<\/p>\n<h2>Changing hearts and minds<\/h2>\n<p>Students provide rave reviews of the writing course.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWednesdays became the day I looked forward to the most out of the week. We\u2019d get to hop on a Zoom call and be as vulnerable, chaotic and introspective as we wanted to be,\u201d says Jasmine Benitez, a business administration major at the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marshall.usc.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">USC Marshall School of Business<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 315px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/BPEP_Memoir_InStoryB-3515.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"315\" height=\"490\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">I\u2019ll Write My Way Out includes stories by PEP students. (Photo: Courtesy of Nik De Dominic and Kate Levin.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The class helped Benitez process her personal anger towards the incarcerated. Growing up, some of her own friends and family had been sent to jail and she\u2019d developed a sense of judgement towards those imprisoned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of minority kids are taught to fear getting \u2018with the wrong crowd\u2019 and getting sent to jail, but no one talks about how the system is already built against us regardless of the crowd we are in,\u201d says Benitez. \u201cWith the help of this class, I started to unlearn those misguided feelings of disappointment over my friends and family that weren\u2019t as fortunate as I was to escape a system meant to capture and contain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Natalia Jun, a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/health-and-human-sciences\/\">health and human sciences<\/a>\u00a0major at USC Dornsife, joined the class after a positive experience with Levin. She\u2019d taken a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/the-writing-program\/writ-150\/\">WRIT 150<\/a>\u00a0course with her and had enjoyed it so much that when she heard about Levin\u2019s WRIT 320 course, she quickly registered.<\/p>\n<p>Students in the class formed strong bonds, says Jun, and the comfortable atmosphere allowed them to open up about their own lives in an authentic way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy most memorable moment was when one of my classmates shared a romantic piece he wrote,\u201d she says. \u201cWe all fell in love with the story \u2014 and then he revealed that the person he was writing about was another classmate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s become passionate about prison reform after her experience in the class. She watched her writing partner struggle to complete assignments in the small amount of time she was allowed each week on the JPAY kiosk, which made Jun realize how difficult it must be for the woman to send messages to loved ones.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know I am changed from the person I was when I began this class,\u201d says Jun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n  \n        \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-related-stories \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-related-stories\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n    \n                  <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/creative-writing-major-micah-owens-wins-usc-dornsife-magazine-writing-contest\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Childhood in Kenya inspires young Michigan-born student\u2019s desire to write<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/national-world-war-i-memorial\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >\u201cWe were young, they say. We have died. Remember us.\u201d<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/narrative-medicine-boost-patient-care\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Physician and USC Dornsife PhD in creative writing and literature alumna brings narrative medicine to USC<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Women incarcerated at the California Institution for Women joined a class on memoir writing alongside USC students, facilitating empathy and new perspectives on prison. <strong>[4 min read]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":1527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,17],"tags":[406,415,414,148,136],"class_list":["post-1524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-impact","category-student","tag-general-education","tag-kate-levin","tag-nik-de-dominic","tag-students","tag-writing-program"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>First \u201cInside-Out\u201d prison-exchange course makes prisoners and students classmates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Women incarcerated at the California Institution for Women joined a class on memoir writing alongside USC students.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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