Reflecting on my visit to prison

A riot broke out in our state's penitentiary yesterday with the resulting lockdown still in effect as I write this.  I have a mild interest in this news story because I recently met 20 or so young men who are incarcerated there, most with life sentences.  The occasion was a school field trip, and I was one of the chaperones.  

Part of what makes public education such a noble enterprise is that as a system we insist on providing an education to all students, even to those that some might call "the worst of the lot."  All school principals (especially at the middle and high school levels) must on occasion be prepared to expel students, and my school district has a special campus consisting of four or five portable structures that serve as an alternate school site for them.  As an administrative trainee, I had the opportunity last month to accompany a small group of these teen-aged students on an hour long drive down to the penitentiary.

Surprisingly and unexpectedly (to me), we were able to meet with a group of inmates face to face, handshake to handshake, without any walls, windows, or escorts separating us.  I say "meet," but in fact "mingle" may even be the more apt description.  These were all young men who (in stark contrast to the horrible choices they made earlier in their lives) have somehow managed to carve out a niche of humanity and purpose out of prison life.  Their purpose: to speak with troubled youth and motivate them to make something positive out of their lives and avoid ending up where they unfortunately have.  Honestly, they remind me of the collection of characters from the film, The Shawshank Redemption.

My purpose isn't at all to engender sympathy for these men.  I am simply reflecting on what I observed and felt that night.  And the students?  I hope I am wrong, but I don't believe this visit was any sort of turning point in their lives.  They are so deeply mired in a rut that I am not confident that they even have the wherewithal to grab onto a hand that is offering to pull them up.  Before these kids failed themselves, they were failed by their parents first, and then failed by an uncompromising school system. 

Odd how in the same entry, I have described public schools as both "noble" and "uncompromising."  I suppose it's true that two sentiments that are opposed to each other can be equally true.