Time:2 hrs

Goals:

Students should be able to begin to define and analyze the Prison Industrial Complex
Students  should be able to identify who is impacted and who benefits from the system to Mass Incarceration
Students should be able to connect on the ground policing in their communities and the age groups that are heavily targeted
Introduction (15 min):

Pronouns, one thing that comes to mind when you hear the word Prison

Group Agreements: Create group agreements that will benefit each person's needs

Ice breaker: Stand Up Sit Down -

IF:

Your school has a gate around it
You know somebody who has been picked up for selling/possessing weed
The cops have harassed or beaten up you or someone you know
You are a student at NYC public HS
DHS/ICE has threatened to deport you or someone you know
You know someone who is selling drugs/ doing sex work because they don’t have enough money to survive
You or someone you know has been suspended
You or someone you know has been arrested before or at the age of 18

Say: All of the statements folks just heard are connected to policing and prisons in the U.S .

Ask: Does anyone know how? (take 5-6 hands)

Opening (15 min): Facilitator will count students people off by 2.Then students will form a group with other students with their number. In their group students will be given a folder with the following statement cut up into pieces  :

“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” cut up into fragments.

Ask the students to assemble the statement into its correct order ( whatever they believe that to be)  after take time to analyze what the text means.

What is it saying? / Interpretation
What are they saying about folks in jail/prison
Who is impacted/implicated in this?
How many people they think were enslaved?
How many people they think are under correctional control?

Activity 1(25-30): Expanding Language

Facilitator will say: Now that we’ve got our minds on this path of thought, I want  us to cover some terms that we will use as we continue thinking through prison/police. So who here has heard of the term Prison Industrial Complex? Who knows what it means or wants to guess?

(have written up definition)

Prison Industrial Complex:  is a term we use to describe the overlapping interests of government and industry that use surveillance, policing, and imprisonment as solutions to economic, social, and political problems. In short it can describes as  the system that CREATES the need for MASS INCARCERATION and then directly profits from it.

Ask: Does this make sense to folks? Anything folks think is missing or we should add?

Ask: Do folks in the room think that the Prison Industrial Complex is a form of violence, a form of oppression, or a form of justice that people experience? (take hands)

Facilitator should say: Here in N.Y.C we definitely see the P.I.C as a form of oppression, not just on individuals but on whole communities. To understand this idea of oppression we use a spectrum called the 3I’s.

Ask: Does anyone wanna take a guess at what the 3 I’s may stand for?

(have written up and go through each point for clarity and grounding)

Institutional: is the oppression that we experience from the state. This oppression is STRUCTURAL and deals with how organizations like Banks, Schools, Hospitals,Police, Prisons and the Government shape reality for Black and Brown folks.
Interpersonal: is the oppression we experience from other individuals. This oppression can manifest between members of the same oppressed group, different oppressed groups, or a non oppressed group and an oppressed one.
Internalized: is the final step in oppression, which is how we take the messages and ideas sent by the institutions and individuals in our society about people who look like us, and how that then manifests itself within us.

Facilitator should say: We use this spectrum to more accurately understand oppression because we understand that we have to be clear about what and how we are experiencing reality. With this spectrum we debunk the idea that it is simply one person in one part of the world doing something that we don't like, and refocus that messaging to understand that it is institutions that individuals are apart of that impact people and whole communities lived realities.

Ask: does this make sense to folks?
Ask: Where on our spectrum of oppression would the P.I.C go? Why?  

Activity 2 (10-15 min): Myths

Note: If the facilitator does not feel they have enough information or data on prisons or jails I would suggest skipping this activity.

Say: Now that we have a shared language and understanding of what the Prison Industrial Complex is I want us to move into actually breaking down what the impact of it is. But before we do that I want us to breakdown some myths or  things we may have already heard about prisons and jails.

Ask: So what is a myth? (take hands)

Myth: a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events
Ask: So then what are some myths that exist about jails/prisons or the people who are in them? ( take hands)

Say: Now that we have an understanding of what are some ideas that exist about the P.I.C let's switch gears and talk about what and who the P.I.C is actually made of and how it is impacting those folks.

Activity 3 (25-30): Prison Mapping

1. Explain that the group is going to create a mind-map to get a sense of how we understand prisons. The group will build off the map throughout the workshop and participants will learn from each other‘s knowledge. For a visual example of a mind-map see The Corrections Projects‘ Mind-Map: http://correctionsproject.com/prisonmaps/pic4.htm

2. Write ―Prisons in a circle in the middle of a big piece of butcher paper

3. Ask: Who is affected by prisons (prisoners, families, guards, communities, towns, politicians)? Write these around the center, circling each one, and connect them with a line to ―Prisons in the center.

4. Ask: What age group is mostly connected to them ? What are some of the institutions that are connected to prisons (courts, police, schools, government, social services, media, corporations, etc)? Continue to draw these around the center with lines connecting to ―Prisons, and you may also draw lines connecting the topics, within or between the layers. For example, politicians—government, families—prisoners, prisoners— guards.

5. Ask: What are some of the larger ideas related to prisons that influence these institutions and individuals (fear, violence, racism, war on drugs, etc.)? Continue to connect them to ―Prisons and to other topics.

6. Ask: Where do you fit in? Where are you connected to this picture? Write these connections in an outer circle. It could be anything from personal connections to incarcerated people, to buying prison-made goods. As in the last step, draw connections within or between layers.

7. Now that the group has created a map, let participants know that the group has developed a working definition of the Prison-Industrial Complex. Say: All of these structures and people and the connections between them make up the PIC, and that is why it is called a “complex.”

Closing 10min: