The 15th annual National Conference for Higher Education in Prison was held in Cleveland, OH this year - and I was there. I went to prison in January of 2000 and got out in July of 2025. In 2011, while Inside, I joined Wesleyan University’s Center for Prison Education Program (CPE) - I had been in college almost since the first NCHEP.
I had been hearing about the NCHEP for years while Inside and to be there in Cleveland was such an amazing experience for me. Close to 1200 people attended the conference, making it the largest of the three conferences that I have attended since my release from prison.. It was also the largest gathering for the NCHEP in their 15 years of organizing them.
It was an amazing experience - from the first breakfast until leaving for the airport after two full days of sessions and events. Formerly incarcerated scholars and the professors that go Inside to teach facilitated each of the sessions I attended. Social scientists and other impressive scholars and advocates led other sessions at the conference. Regrettably, there were too many options and I was unable to take part in them all.
Experiences were singular and overlapping. I went to Cleveland with an 8-person contingent from CPE and each of us had our own favorite sessions we attended and talked about afterwards. A number of times half of us would find ourselves in the same session, and once we could all be found in the same room for a session about formerly incarcerated scholars taking a leadership role in higher ed in prison programs. Coincidentally, it was the session that 3 of my colleagues and I facilitated.
Our session was the one I attended with only formerly incarcerated scholars on the panel. We discussed our roles and responsibilities concerning higher education in prison programs moving forward and to the ways that we are already doing the work. We spoke about our experiences and how that knowledge helps guide our approaches to leadership and institutional programming that we know and care about so intimately.
I had some great conversations with people from all over the country and meeting them was easily the best part of the conference for me. Connecting with a brother from Maryland that was able to overcome multiple incarcerations and build his own upholstery business was so inspiring. Meeting a woman who works for the D.O.C. who is so invested in improving lives Inside through meaningful programming was vastly encouraging. Meeting a brother from Illinois who is working on bridging the racial gap concerning the understanding and usage of AI was enlightening to say the least. Another highlight was meeting a brother who knows my boss and is doing great things himself. His company helped me while I was Inside so I am grateful to him and his team.
Freedom Reads got a lot of love. I wore my Freedom Reads shirt the first day and it led me to meet several people who approached to thank me for the work that we do. So many people expressed their appreciation for the work. Some people just wanted a picture of the back of my shirt which reads, Freedom Begins with a Book. It all traces back to that. Freedom Begins With A Book.