Our show this week,“Philosophy Behind Bars”features guest Jennifer Lackey, a professor of philosophy from Northwestern University who also teaches philosophy at the Stateville Correctional Center in Illinois. Jennifer has had a longstanding interest in teaching in prison “in large part because of the transformative impact it can have on the lives of the prisoners, both individually and collectively,” she toldNorthwestern Now.

当我本周和她交谈时，詹妮弗解释说，在监狱教书对她来说也是一种难以置信的强大经历，它如何重新点燃了她对教学的热爱。她的大部分被监禁的学生进监狱时几乎没有受过什么教育。有些人一开始根本不会阅读，后来却变成了天才作家。上这些哲学课是囚犯们非常看重的特权。他们的例子与詹妮弗在西北大学的学生形成了鲜明的对比，尤其是那些为了满足大学要求而学习哲学的学生，他们对材料不那么投入。对于她在监狱里的学生来说，这些哲学课程为他们提供了一个受欢迎的喘息机会，让他们摆脱不断提醒自己被监禁的烦恼。他们被对待，不是作为囚犯，而是作为思想家和作家，对重要的哲学思想有发言权。他们又有了做人的感觉。

The effects of these classes are remarkable and reach beyond the small set of students who actually take the classes. When education is introduced into prisons, it reduces violence and racism amongst the general population. The number of disciplinary infractions drops.

Education also has a huge effect on recidivism rates. According to theNational Institute of Justice, within five years of release, more than three quarters of prisoners in the US are rearrested. Over half of those are rearrested within the first year of their release. Jennifer told me that when an inmate receives an Associate’s Degree, the recidivism rate drops to 14%. When they receive a BA it drops to 5.6%, and when they receive an MA, it drops to zero recidivism. Zero!!

我们有义务以尊严和尊重对待被我们监禁的人，包括提供教育和自我发展的机会，如果你不被这样的观点所打动，那么我们为什么应该教育囚犯，这仍然是一个很好的理由。这对所有人都有好处，不仅仅是囚犯。降低累犯率应该是我们所有人都关心的事情，尽管如此，当这么多监狱由营利性公司经营时，显然有一些人从更高的累犯率中受益。

美国可以从其他国家学习一些东西，这些国家没有把监禁作为主要的惩罚目的。TakeNorway, for example, whose incarceration rates are a staggering 90% less than ours. Theirrecidivism rates两年内再次犯罪率也低得多，只有20%。他们监禁罪犯的目的更多地是为了改造而不是惩罚。虽然改造并不是詹妮弗将哲学带入监狱的目的，但很难否认它有这种积极的影响。

Tune in this week to learn more about Jennifer's experience teaching philosophy in prison.