Correspondence from the inside....

The following is an excerpt from a letter I received from an incarcerated individual I have been in correspondence with about the roles of education in prisons. The letters I have received have been eye-opening, inspirational and a motivator to continue advocating for higher education in prisons.

"Dear Ms. Kallam,

First and foremost I would like to show my appreciation for your humbling request. To help remedy an incarceration epidemic which has engulfed our society is quite an expedition....

....lasting improvement does not take the place by pronouncement or official programs. Change-real change-comes from the inside out. It doesn't come from hacking at the leaves of attitude and behavior with quick fix personality ethic techniques. It comes from striking at the root-the fabric of our thought, the fundamental essential paradigms, which give definition to our character and create the lens through which we see the world.....

....I share this with you to emphasis that you must, before anything else, bring into being a fundamental change within the mindsets of those who form policies concerning inmates....