Spring 2002: Prison | Release

The Spring 2002 issue of Sarah Lawrence Magazine examines the hinges of our lives: those doors we open when moving from one of life's rooms to the next.

Friends
Giani Siri '76 (known as Giovanna Sirignano when at SLC) is a trainer in an Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP), working closely with 11 inmates serving life sentences — men she considers close friends.

The Real Cuckoo's Nest
Forensic psychiatrist Alex Horowitz '80 works at Oregon State Hospital with about 40 inpatient criminals, striving to see that it remains a hospital treating patients and not just a prison warehousing the criminally insane.

Dear Diary
Robin Shellow '78 is an attorney who primarily represents minors being tried as adults. Brief entries from her journal reveal the heartbreaking challenges she faces.

Learning Experience
Sociology faculty member and associate dean of studies Regina Arnold spearheads a program, called Right to Write, in which her students work directly with inmates at the county jail in Valhalla and get an eye-opening dose of reality.

Fighter
Megan Quattlebaum '02 has been crusading for prison reform that would stress education over incarceration. A passionate and articulate writer and researcher, her sharp observations question the wisdom of building for-profit prisons as a form of economic development.

Dialogue: Ted Conover and Thomas Lux
Non-fiction author Ted Conover was a guest lecturer at SLC last summer, and he sat down with poet and director of the Graduate Writing Program in Poetry, Tom Lux to discuss Conover's book, Newjack, his account of being an undercover rookie corrections officer at Sing Sing for two years.