"You Probably Don't Even Know I Exist": Notes from a College Prison Program

<p>Although much has been written recently about prison "writing" in general (Wally Lamb's Couldn't Keep It to Myself, Mark Salzman's True Notebooks), far less has been written about the efforts and challenges involved in helping prisoners. In this case, females in a maximum-security prison in Westchester County, New York, learn the kind of writing skills required to succeed in college. While the inmate-students' writing skills in the pre-college program are similar to those of basic writers on the "outside, "the students' lack of confidence in their ability and their belief that they are not "worthy" of a college education often present challenges (and rewards) that I begin to examine in this article.</p>