Grinnell Prison Education Conference
Thursday, November 1st - Saturday, November 3rd

This fall, Grinnell College will host its first ever Prison Education Conference. This conference is designed to help representatives from eight colleges near prisons in Iowa and the Midwest to form a college/prison partnership similar to Grinnell's, but particularly suited to the needs and strengths of each college and prison.

The conference will include a speech by Max Kenner, founder of the Bard Prison Initiative. The Initiative enrolls over 100 incarcerated students, women and men, fulltime in a rigorous and diverse liberal arts curriculum, offering both associate and bachelor degrees at four prisons. It will also include a reading by Judith Tannenbaum, from her book Disguised as a Poem, a memoir about her years teaching poetry to men at San Quentin. Both events are free and open to the public.

Schedule of Events

Thursday, November 1st

5:00 - Participants arrive and check into housing.

6:00 - Banquet for all conference participants - Old Glove Factory

8:30 - Speech by Max Kenner, founder and director of the Bard Prison Initiative - ARH 101

Friday, November 2nd

8:30 - Breakfast - JRC 101

9:00 - Panel #1-Grinnell College alumni who volunteered with Grinnell Prison Workshop and who have gone on to work related to criminal justice - JRC 101

10:30 - Panel #2-Department of Corrections officials talk about the logistics of running volunteer programs - JRC 101

11:30 - Lunch

12:30-3:30 - Drive to Newton Correctional Facility (25 miles one way) for panel discussion with prisoners who have participated in Grinnell College student-taught classes.

4:15 Visiting writer, Judith Tannenbaum, former artist-in-residence at San Quentin prison near San Francisco, will read from her memoir, Disguised as a Poem.

6:30 - Dinner

Evening-possible entertainment, including a presentation of some of the best work to come out of the Grinnell Prison Workshop

Saturday, November 3rd

8:30 - Breakfast

9:00 - Presentation on theories of criminal justice

10:00 - Discussion led by Grinnell student-teachers on the nuts and bolts of setting up a program with a prison, including explanation of a binder of necessary materials

11:15 - Representative teams meet individually to discuss setting up their own programs

12:30 - Lunch

1:30 - Depart