Editor’s note: To protect the privacy of the Westville Correctional Facility men quoted in this story, only their first names are used.
At the Westville Correctional Facility in northwest Indiana, seven men in similar prison-blue pants and sweatshirts sit in a bare-bones classroom in April to discuss Irish literature with Notre Dame professor Brian Ó Conchubhair.
The men relish the opportunity. One after another offers testimony as if he is at a religious revival meeting about the value of the Moreau College Initiative classes that allow them to earn a degree while behind bars.
“I get treated like a person here—a student,” Chris says. “And if employers see you took the initiative to change yourself, they are looking for that.”
David agrees. “A lot of doors are closed to us, but this opens some up,” he says. “With all that goes down here, if you get a degree, you’ve done something.”