The Princeton University formally announced the donation of 52 laptop computers and related equipment, such as headsets and printers, to the State of New Jersey Department of Corrections on Jan. 29. The donations will go to incarcerated students in two state prisons as part of the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons (NJ-STEP) consortium.
NJ-STEP is an association of higher education institutions located in New Jersey that provides college-level courses and skills training for incarcerated people. Princeton’s Prison Teaching Initiative (PTI) is a constituent of NJ-STEP and works closely with the association to deliver academic resources to incarcerees.
“The primary mission of PTI is to extend post-secondary opportunities to currently and formerly incarcerated undergraduate students,” said Christopher Etienne, the student engagement coordinator of PTI. “One of the ways is we go into prisons and teach.”
Aside from teaching, PTI provides academic resources to incarcerated students. Notably, the recent donation took “a grueling three years” to get cleared, according to Etienne.
“The primary barrier really is security,” said Etienne. “The Department of Corrections fears that [incarcerated students] could use this technology to potentially contact people who are still engaging in criminal activities, and so that’s considered a security risk.”
However, despite the time it took for the donations to be approved, Etienne stressed that PTI has a collaborative relationship with the Department of Corrections and hopes to continue working closely with the Department.
“The Department of Corrections just wanted to make sure that these laptops weren’t being used for disingenuous purposes,” Etiene said.
In addition to individual efforts, PTI collaborates with other institutions, including Raritan Valley Community College, Mercer County Community College, and Rutgers University. According to Etienne, PTI works with “almost 120 different instructors” to support and educate incarcerated students.
“We launched roughly around 30 or 40 classes a semester throughout five correctional facilities and one federal facility,” noted Etienne.
Professors at Princeton University teach many of these classes, playing a key role in facilitating college courses offered by NJ-STEP in a variety of subjects, such as English, mathematics, and the sciences. “The main teaching that I have done for PTI over the years has been math,” said Professor of Astrophysical Sciences Jenny Greene, the current academic director and co-founder of PTI.
“My other roles are … administrative — so advocating for PTI in the universities, advocating for PTI with our state partners, and also starting new programs,” continued Greene. “So I’ve been really involved.”
Last month, Greene received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) for her work with PTI. PAESMEM is administered by the National Science Foundation on behalf of the White House, recognizing individuals who have made “significant contributions to mentoring.”
Jill Stockwell, the former associate director of PTI, also contributed greatly to PTI’s success and recent donation. “I oversaw all aspects of PTI’s work, including our prison education programming, volunteer training, summer internship programming, and our engagement with campus groups to promote dialogue,” stated Stockwell.
Princeton is one of the first programs in New Jersey to offer STEM and lab programming inside of prisons. “Our [PTI] leaders, people like Jenny Greene and Jill Stockwell, started modifying their curriculum to be able to fit lab work inside of prisons,” remarked Etienne. “For instance, if [the instructors are] bringing in beakers, the Department of Corrections would say, ‘hey, it can’t be glass,’ [so] they’ll find plastic … or they’ll use things that were acceptable to bring inside to teach students.”
“We attended a lot of conferences focused on prison education … and people would request that PTI come there and teach them how we [at Princeton] teach lab work,” added Etienne. “So that just became something that we’re famous for — our calling card.”
However, before Princeton’s recent donation, instructors faced difficulties teaching STEM subjects to incarcerated students. “If you’re trying to pursue a STEM degree, you’re going to need lab experience, and that’s not something that’s usually offered at prisons,” Etienne elaborated.
“These mobile labs represent a vital step in preparing our students for the twenty-first century campuses and job markets they will come home to,” added Stockwell. “I know our scientists are particularly looking forward to bringing in some programming applications.”
Greene corroborated Stockwell’s viewpoint. “The idea that our incarcerated students can be exposed to a learning management system, exposed to how to use Excel, all of these tools, [means that] they’ll just be ready to hit the ground running when they get to college [after release],” Greene said.
“We’ve just had incredible support from all levels,” she added. “Everyone really wanted to see [the donation] happen, and so even though it wasn’t instantaneous, it was actually really, really smooth.”
Greene reflected on the significance of not only the donation, but also PTI’s influence on incarcerated students. “It’s hard to overstate what the impact will be,” said Greene.
“One of our former students talk[ed] about the arduous process of writing longhand essays for college and … then going through two or three editing sessions,” mentioned Greene. “[The computer donation impacts] everything from just the ease of copy editing, cutting and pasting, to writing essays.”
“[The students] can all tell their children that they’re working towards a college degree,” continued Greene. “When they graduate, [it’s] just … powerful … for their whole family.”
Furthermore, Greene emphasized the opportunities available for the University community to engage in PTI, especially teaching faculty. “For graduate students, postdocs, and faculty that have completed their master’s level, they are eligible to teach with us,” said Greene. “For undergraduates, obviously they can’t teach college courses, but we do have tutoring opportunities.”
“We ourselves can’t be in advocacy roles, but we do talk to SPEAR [Students for Prison Education, Abolition and Reform] about what’s going on with our students, and sometimes have joint projects,” added Greene. “There’s definitely ways for people at all levels to plug into PTI.”
Incarcerated students do not receive a degree from the University. Instead, they have the opportunity to obtain an associate’s degree with Raritan Valley Community College or a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University.
“We’ve just gotten permission to offer Princeton classes for Princeton credit inside [prisons],” said Greene. “[The University is] not offering a Princeton degree, but [the students] will be getting a Princeton transcript if they take our classes.”
“This is a very exciting and new development,” commented Greene. “Hopefully, everything is going to come together.”
Eojin Park is an assistant News editor for the 'Prince'. She is from Seoul, South Korea and typically covers town politics.
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