Imagining Justice: Inside/Out Prison Exchange

Inside/Out Prison Exchange: Imagining Justice

This course is taught on the model of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, which brings together college students living in prison (in this case, Coffee Creek Women’s Correctional Facility) with students on the outside. In this unique classroom environment we will focus on the question, “What Is Justice?” The premise of the course is that living a just existence means living imaginatively. “Justice” is not a thing, but an abstract ideal that we must constantly re-envision as we attempt to put it into practice. We will read and interpret imaginative literature as a way to launch our own investigations into what justice may mean for us and for our society. We will read and interpret imaginative literature from Shakespeare to Toni Morrison as a way to launch our own investigations into what justice can mean for us and for our society.