Gifts from the Dark

Joni Schwartz is professor of humanities at the City University of New York – LaGuardia Community College and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice Graduate Studies Program.John R. Chaney is assistant professor and director of Criminal Justice programs for City University of New York -- LaGuardia Community College.

• Part I: Adult Transformative Learning and the Prison ExperienceChapter 1: Prison Writing: A Literary TraditionChapter 2: Incarceration: The Disorienting Dilemma toward TransformationChapter 3: Transformation: A Brave ActChapter 4: Understanding the Role of Race and GenderPart II: Learning that Transforms the SelfChapter 5: Sitting with Yourself: Cells of Silence and SolitudeChapter 6: The Organic IntellectualChapter 7: Higher & Continuing Education: Attracting the Best StudentsChapter 8: Exercising Body and Mind: Habits and FlowChapter 9: Emotional Intelligence and the Prison ExperiencePart III: Learning in Relation to OthersChapter 10: The Black Family and the Incarceration ExperienceChapter 11: The Prison Experience and TechnologyChapter 12: Non-verbal CommunicationPart IV: Learning that Transforms the WorldChapter 13: Giving BackChapter 14: Criminal Justice Reform: Everyone’s Responsibility

Compelling, eye opening, and captivating. Schwartz and Chaney provide a fresh look on an age-old phenomenon: Incarceration. Their unique approach of inviting diverse voices through primary sources and testimonies of formerly incarcerated persons who spanned geographic space and time, racial and gender identity location, as well as type of conviction offers the reader a different perspective on the prison experience. This perspective highlights the transformative learning potentiality born from the dark recesses of imprisonment. It reminds us that saving the soul of America hinges on rescuing our humanity from the inhumanity of a justice system built on racist ideology and practices.