Despite several years of short jail staffing requiring just one section, the Goshen College course of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange program will be moved back to two concurrent classes this year as it had always been in the past. Held at the Elkhart County jail, the “outside” students, a cohort from GC, will join the “inside” students, those currently incarcerated in the jail, for two of the courses being offered.
Robert Brenneman, professor of criminal justice and sociology, will lead a section in the men’s ward entitled “Masculinity and Justice.” Regina Shands Stoltzfus, professor of peace, justice and conflict studies, and Kortney Stern, assistant professor of English, will teach a section in the women’s ward called “Witness and Voice: Conflict, Gender, and the Power of Story,” which will focus more on writing.At the request of the jail, only women will be allowed to participate in the section led by Shand Stoltzfus and Stern, but Brenneman plans to welcome outside students of all genders to join his course.
Though only eight students are currently enrolled, Brenneman feels confident that at this stage enough will register to successfully run both courses. This is in part to give as many GC students possible the experience, but the jail also only allows for the number of inside students to match with outside, so Brenneman also hopes to provide the maximum number of participation opportunities to those in the jail as well.
Lindsey Graber, a senior English major, took the course last year and reflected on her own motivations to be involved.
“I’m really interested in criminal justice so I thought that it would be something that would be a beneficial and interesting experience,” Graber said. “I had heard from [past students] that they gained a lot through the relationships they made in the class.”
The class itself has run for many years after it was brought to the college by former professor Carolyn Schrock-Shenk, but took a two year hiatus during COVID. GC’s own content is unique to its professors and students, but Inside-Out is a national program that operates similar classes around the country.
All three professors had to undergo specialized training to prepare them to lead the course. However, Shands Stoltzfus believes their content remains specific to their disciplines and is helpful for the class overall the professor curiates the learnings in class.
“The inside students and the outside students are peers. The outside students are not there to study the inside students, they are not there to teach them anything; they are students in a class together,” Shands Stoltzfus said.
Graber was also apprehensive to begin the course — in part because of how physically intimidating the structure of the jail is. This translated into a nervousness to meet the inside students as well, but “Immediately once we all started talking and getting to know each other it was a whole new atmosphere — it was like we all remembered that we were just other people,” Graber said.
Mona Galeb, a senior nursing major, also noticed the change in herself during the course. “I was surprised by how emotional and powerful the experience was, especially hearing everyone’s stories and perspectives. I didn’t know exactly what to expect at first, but I found myself genuinely connecting with people and appreciating the open conversations we had,” Galeb said.
Brenneman also emphasized the energy behind getting this course ready. The Jail Ministry of Elkhart County, led by chaplain Corey Martin, has a passion for this project and operates as a sort of “broker” between GC and the jail.
Though both Brenneman and Shands Stoltzfus described the class as a transformational experience, Brenneman clarified that that is not always without a cost. “[The environment] is exponentially more intense, the kind of personal interaction that this course requires … there is literally nowhere to hide. Even as a professor I come home exhausted from that course every day.”
One illustration of this transformation is a story that Brenneman described as “one of the most beautiful gifts I have had as a teacher — even though it’s a sad one.”
He recounted the tale of a young man, one of the inside students, who was often lacking confidence in his academic abilities and had dropped out of high school.
In their final moments in the course, this man came to Brenneman and told him, “You’re a great teacher. If you’d have been my high school teacher, I wouldn’t be here.”
Brenneman called this “the best compliment anyone had ever given me,” but at the same time left him sad — an important reminder of the impact that his work can have even if he doubts it from time to time.
Shands Stoltzfus has also been moved during her time as instructor in the jail. “That’s the transformative part. We’re human beings having a human experience together and it’s amazing. We can have fun, we can talk about hard stuff. We can be silly, and we can learn things.”
