Literacy Behind Bars: Successful Reading and Writing Strategies for Use with Incarcerated Youths and Adults

Abstract

Literacy Behind Bars:Successful Reading and Writing Strategies for Use with Incarcerated Youths and Adults Stephanie Hilliard Literacy Behind Bars: Successful Reading and Writing Strategies for Use with Incarcerated Youths and Adults Mary E. Styslinger, Karen Gabigan, and Kendra Albright, eds. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2017. 105 pp. Literacy Behind Bars introduces its core focus in the subtitle: the goal of this text is to provide "strategies" aimed at improving the reading and writing skills of incarcerated persons of all ages. However, while this goal seems wholly explained by the book's title, it does very little to fully encapsulate the full breadth and depth of the book's content. Edited by a trio of authors who each have various experiences teaching in the penal system, Literacy Behind Bars features a wonderful diversity of information that reaches far beyond the goal set by its title. The book is tall and thin, almost feeling more like a composition notebook than a scholarly work. Simply perusing the size and shape of the text, one might come away with the impression that the text will be unable to fully deliver on its premise, as the content spans a mere 85 pages. Within moments of cracking the book open however, this impression feels unfounded. The foreword, written by William G. Brozo, serves as a broad introduction to the text itself, while the preface of the text offers much-needed context that lays the groundwork for the kind of spaces in which the following chapters were conceived. As a teacher who has worked in a prison classroom, I was heartened to see this framing, as Literacy Behind Bars sets itself apart from its modest title quickly, providing context and information that can inform any audience about the landscape of prison teaching, regardless of their previous experience or knowledge. Both the foreword and the preface include broad-stroke information that informs readers about the scope and scale of the American prison system, and by extension, its classrooms. One does not have to have previous experience with prison teaching to come away from the foreword feeling prepared to understand the context in which this text is focused. [End Page 111] Each chapter recounts a particular teaching or study experience, all of which are centered in an educational space within the American penal system. The students in question for this text range from juveniles to adults, and the reasons for their incarceration are just as diverse. Although the foreword and preface provide a sound overview of the prison system and teaching "behind the fence," consequent chapters further describe the uniqueness of teaching in the penal system, not just at a macro level, but at a micro one as well. The chapters do not appear to be organized in any particular way, but all include accounts of teaching in minimum-to-maximum security facilities, describe varying levels of technology access (some classrooms had strict rules about access to and possession of pencils, while other facilities allowed students supervised use of the Internet), and explore various contexts in which incarcerated learning occurs, including traditional classroom spaces, book clubs, and libraries. Although this wealth of experience is not framed as an explicit primer into what teaching within the prison system can entail, the text does, in fact, provide a solid overview of the various ways in which prison teaching is encountered. A reader with no previous knowledge of this work can come away from the book with a strong understanding of the physical spaces in which prison education occurs. Turning from the physical space of learning to the learners themselves, despite the occasional references to why these students are incarcerated, these notes are always included in a respectful way, which speaks to one of the unspoken goals of the text; it is clear from the rhetoric of the various contributors that these authors care very deeply for their students, are keenly aware of how outsiders view them, and have a vested interest in combatting the stereotypes attributed to incarcerated learners. This view is evidenced in several places. In "The Places We Can Go: Book Clubs for Social Justice," authors Jennifer L. Doyle, Elizabeth M. Bemiss, and Mary E. Styslinger recount the experience...