“Being a Presence to Each Other”: Adult Educators Who Foster Empowerment With Incarcerated Women

Building authentic relationships

Mutual respect, trust, and genuine concern for one another provided the foundation for building authentic relationships that fostered empowerment. Compassion, authenticity, flexibility, and power sharing were important to achieving this goal. When Terri taught, she emphasized that “we are all learning together” and the importance of “being a presence to each other.” She explained that the inmates know better than anyone the experience of being incarcerated and the paths that led them there and because of this, they are able to give one another affirmation, hope, and reassurance that they are not alone. Terri discussed the paradox of the women being able to experience healing as a result of their relationships with one another, when most of the women in the program have been harmed by their relationships. She said, “The women-centered programming that we do is that we build on relationships.”

Sharing personal stories established trust. Nancy explained, “I think it is empowering for the women to hear each other’s stories, and so, to encourage that personal dialogue and to hear that understanding that they are not alone.” Diane discussed the importance of the personal narratives in The GRPs’ work. As an artist, Diane along with Nancy, who has a background in counseling, collaborated to use art to help the women access part of their personal narratives. For example, a facilitated discussion about self-care was followed by the making of a group self-care quilt in which each woman created a square that became part of the group quilt. Diane said that the creativity classes were a unique strength of the program and that they were a favorite among the participants. She said, “And it’s almost like they need that in order to swallow the bitter pill of some of the other aspects of programming that are really hard.”

Reflection and practice

Educators used teaching strategies that encouraged practice and reflection on skills and fostered empowerment. Angela used role play so the women could practice the skills they were learning and could make connections to course content. Angela told of a participant who began to take control over her life by getting a sponsor to help her work through her addiction. Angela explained that taking these steps while in jail empowered the women to prepare for their lives post-incarceration. Lindsey, who facilitated the domestic abuse and incest recovery classes, also used role play so the women could practice effective confrontation, communication, and coping strategies.

Nancy used guided meditation to help the women focus and release negative thoughts. Given the constant activity in jail, participants faced challenges finding quiet time for meditation and reflection. She told of one participant’s determination to meet her goal of meditating at least 5 minutes a day:

She said [the participant], “There is not five minutes in this pod that are quiet except for two in the morning and I am meditating at two in the morning.” So, she’s like, you know, I’ve found the time for five minutes. So, it’s interesting to watch her really commit to, you know, “I’m going to practice this.” And so, that’s a very clear example of how they are really practicing, tangibly practicing.

Intentional reflection and practice provide an opportunity to examine the past in a safe environment and see the possibilities for a different future. Terri noted that one participant who had been “so down in the dumps” approached Terri and thanked her for starting the program and bringing it to the jail because all the classes were finally “working together” for her. She explained to Terri that when discussing resources in one class, she realized her estranged family could be a resource. She said that she wrote a letter to her mother telling her what she was learning in the program and for the first time since she had been incarcerated, her children and her mother visited her. When the participant credited Terri for the initiative the learner took to reach out to her mother, Terri replied,

“It’s to do with you. It’s to do with what you’ve chosen to do here. And it’s phenomenal. It’s amazing. And you know, if you can do things like this, you can make it. You can.” I mean she was holding my hands and crying and just crying and laughing at the same time. It was just this personal moment of just being so thankful in her life that she had taken that step. And again, it’s nothing personal (laughing). It’s about what can happen when you give these women just the least bit of encouragement and empowerment.

Shared power

In this highly regulated context, power sharing occurs between the staff and volunteers, and inmates in the one place it can—through the process and content of the classes. Volunteers’ backgrounds vary across multiple dimensions, including age, income, education, ethnicity, and work experiences, and they see themselves and the inmates as equal partners in the learning process. Unlike the treatment center where Nancy once worked, she said there was no hierarchy in The GRP. She stated, “I’ve never seen a power struggle with people in The GRP; there’s just this kind of level playing field for the women to see and I think that is a huge strength.” Ellyn, who teaches some of the dance classes, also discussed the sharing of leadership and power. She explained, “I have to have a good volunteer team. And we all work so well together I think that helps model to the women that this group of women is working together in shared leadership.” She said that they ask the participants for feedback and invite them to take turns leading parts of the class. Participants take the lead in other classes as well by leading discussions and choosing topics or activities that are relevant to their experiences that week. While there is a plan for each class, staff and volunteers remain flexible to address the needs and incorporate the ideas of the participants.

Affirming strengths

Educators fostered empowerment by eliciting, affirming, and appreciating the strengths and self-worth of the women. Terri shared a story of driving around with a purple pinwheel that one of The GRP participants made in an art class. The participant was so proud of her creation because it was the first project she had ever completed and it was a reminder to Terri of the trauma many of the participants survived. Terri explained,

I used to drive around with that purple pinwheel in my car, all the time, because it reminded me what it’s [The GRP] about. But I mean nobody ever loved her. Nobody ever cared if she had a childhood. Nobody thought about why she was selling her body or takin’ drugs. And who of us in that situation wouldn’t do the same? I mean, you survive. In some ways she was a better survivor than any of us. I mean, given the challenges of what her life must have been and she couldn’t recognize any of that in herself, but it was there.

Discussing the systemic oppression that the women face in the “free world,” Terri highlighted the importance of constant reminders of self-worth because, “what the world’s telling them out there is contradicting every self-valuing piece of themselves.” Diane shared an example of a participant who sometimes came across as aggressive.

She’s been through terrible things. I know she has. . . . But Sarah is so bloody determined. . . . And she shows up for every class even though she really damn well doesn’t want to be there sometimes, right. . . . She came to an Alanon meeting earlier in the week and she had a really bad toothache. She was in a lot pain and she sat there. She didn’t share. She didn’t read. But she sat there and she listened. And that kind of determination, that, I mean that part of her personality is very pronounced in Sarah, because when she pursues anything, she pursues it fairly aggressively. And that comes out in determination.

Diane explained that by providing the women the opportunity to examine strengths helps them realize that “they have resources within themselves that are untapped.”

Recognizing need and countering dehumanization

Once exposed to the experiences of incarcerated women, participants realized that they needed to do something different from “warehousing” and “throwing away” women who, for the most part, were incarcerated for nonviolent crimes. Diane said, “The prison industrial complex is a blight on this country. And I hear one of those patriotic songs with the line ‘home of the brave, land of the free,’ and I just think ‘I can’t sing those songs.’” Diane was also drawn to working with incarcerated women because of what she had learned about the criminal justice system. She remarked,

There’s some sort of really negative things about what we do within our criminal justice system. Of what the premises are about human nature and about how you treat other human beings and what value they might have. We throw away people. We warehouse people. We put them behind bars and we throw away the key and they’re invisible.

Nancy talked about the first time she went to the jail and how she felt an “extreme sense of gratitude” that she wasn’t in jail. Despite previously working as a counselor in other high-stress circumstances such as hospice and hospital psychiatry units, she said she never experienced such a sense of gratitude. She commented,

I mean these women are so dehumanized on every level and it was so apparent to me that their souls were just hidden away for sheer survival. . . . I had never seen those kind of throw away people that society just doesn’t care about. That was my first exposure.

Terri told a story of a judge who complained to her that he gave a woman who was “a prostitute” a chance by allowing her to “go home,” and he was frustrated because she was back in jail the next week. Terri said,

So I’m thinking to myself, so she had no money, cuz she’d been in jail. She had no place to live. She had no food. She had no relationships probably except for him [her pimp]. You put her back on the streets and you didn’t help her with anything to put her back on the streets. What do you think she’s going to do?

When Lindsey first started offering domestic violence and incest recovery classes in the jail, she immediately recognized the impact of trauma and dehumanization in the women’s lives. Lindsey said, “. . . one in three women are sexually abused before the age 18. When we sit in there in the jail it’s usually about 95 to 98%. Which is very . . . that’s astonishing to me.” She wants the women to understand that the abuse is not their fault and to help them recover and move forward.

Recognizing privilege and commonalities

Respondents not only began to understand that the criminal justice system was broken and dehumanizing, but they also recognized their privilege as well as commonalities between their lives and the lives of women in jail, that fueled a desire to give back. Terri explained the connection she felt with the women:

I may not have totally all the same issues, but I have enough in my background that I know what it is like to be told “you’re not acceptable,” or “you’re not what I would wish you to be” from my caretakers. I have been through what we would call abuse. I’ve been through a time when I actually could have been charged with and convicted with stealing something. . . . But we’re all searching for the self-confidence, that sense of self that will allow us to flourish and to share, and to feel like we’re of value.

Diane said that one of the first things she noticed when she started volunteering was that “these women were just like me and I think that sort of commonality that we shared was the first thing that really got me involved because that was not something I was prepared for.” Despite recognizing all that she had in common and the “sense of sisterhood” she believed that she had with them, she also recognized the advantages she had that kept her out of prison. Because of this, she felt a sense of responsibility to contribute.

Working with the women opened Ellyn’s eyes to incarcerated women’s experiences and needs. She said,

I was kind of blind to that and so I got interested. And of course, once you go one time you kind of get hooked on it. And you know, you realize that “Oh gosh you know, if I was in a different situation, if I didn’t have this family support, if I was coming from that same background I could be there.” And so it was an eye opening thing for me.

Self-interest

Staff and volunteers were motivated by self-interest and the benefits they received from working with The GRP, such as being able to apply their professional skills toward something important, making a difference in others’ lives, and receiving gratitude from The GRP participants. Angela stated,

On a weekly basis when I go in, it’s just them being happy that I was there. That’s honestly rewarding, I kid you not. I know that’s very selfish. Sometimes I work all day and you know, and I’m travelin’ to the jail in 5:30 traffic. I’m tired and I get there I’m like ok I’m ready and they’re excited that I’m there, and we work on something. We get into it and the light bulbs go off and they’re thankful that I’ve been there, and I’ve been a part of that. I’ve been a part of a little bit of transformation, you know. And interestingly enough, you know, they’re a part of mine.

As an artist, Diane recognized the importance of color in the jail when an inmate in another unit expressed her gratitude for the art classes. Diane said that color immediately changed the atmosphere and that the inmate told her that it made a huge difference in her life. Teaching the creativity classes allowed Diane to use every skill except for her ability to speak French. She loved to introduce the arts to women who typically do not have access. She viewed creative self-expression as a human right that was denied to many people because of the elitism that surrounds the art world. She explained,

I have an opportunity to introduce these women to things that maybe they haven’t been introduced to before. I have an opportunity to talk to other members of my community about the effect that has on them to try to get them more involved. So I think that there is a sort of . . . I’ve got sort of an idealistic motivation for doing this work as well. And I find it personally very satisfying.

Ellen also commented that she felt the women helped her so much more than anything she could do for them.

Trust

In jails and prisons the word duck is used to refer to correctional staff who are easily fooled or manipulated. Anyone working in jail as an employee or volunteer is required to read “Downing a Duck” (Allen & Bosta, 1981). Nancy resented the term and said,

I am more than willing to be a duck for three or four of them to reach. You know, actually I am willing to be a duck for six or seven of them if I get to reach two or three of them because it’s two or three who have never had anybody to really trust them. They really understand that I trust them.

Jean also referenced the “the duck story” saying there needs to be another option other than what the duck story teaches, which is that all inmates are untrustworthy.

Fear

Terri and Diane talked about “giving voice” as an important aspect of empowerment. Terri wanted the women to know that they each have a voice worth listening to and that they could be advocates for themselves and others. Diane said that her teaching was about giving the women an opportunity to “speak their truth” and talk about things they avoided talking about out of fear. She found this challenging in the jail setting where she said, “There’s a hell of a lot of fear you know. You can almost smell it in there. You know, it’s . . . there’s an awful lot of fear.”

Choice and control

Attempts to reinforce practices of agency through the curriculum competed with the jail’s rigid rules where choice was nonexistent. To counter this, class facilitators incorporated choice in the activities. Ellyn, who led dance classes, believed that while full participation was expected, women should have a choice of how and to what degree they participated. She said that participants frequently commented, “I felt for these two hours like I was free.” Staff also built flexibility into the program. An example of this was checking in with women who had exceeded the allowable absences in classes rather than automatically kicking them out. Nancy remarked that the women were surprised by this practice. She continued, “It was so apparent to me that their world was so black and white, good and bad, that they hadn’t really had anyone say, ‘We can adjust what we are doing. Is there something we can do differently? We are really invested in YOU.’”

Parts of the curriculum help women identify what they have control over. Angela said that interactions between jail officers or other inmates often trigger memories of previous trauma and abuse and that their prior coping behaviors get them in trouble with officers. Although it is difficult to feel any sense of control in jail, Angela reinforced the idea of personal control in her classes explaining to learners that while they may not have power over everything in their lives, they do have control over their reactions to situations. She talked about the daily stressors women faced in the jail and helped them identify what they had control over in hopes that they would transfer the learning outside of jail.