By Pamela Schwartz It’s not often that the memories of a class endure long after the quarter has ended. However, the memories of our mixed enrollment class persist, leaving me unsettled, as if there’s unfinished business. Consequently, as I reflect back to winter quarter 2015 and my time studying within the formidable walls and intimidating

In November, 1981, during the height of the Salvadoran armed conflict, an estimated 1,200 soldiers invaded the rural northern province of Cabañas, El Salvador, to carry out a “cleansing operation.” Survivors of the invasion, however, tell a story of carnage, in which the armed forces directly targeted the unarmed civilian population, including the elderly and

(Español abajo) In recognition of the Day of the Disappeared Child in El Salvador on Sunday, March 29, UW Center for Human Rights’ Unfinished Sentences project  is proud to release two videos and a written report on two civil war-era massacres in which children were taken from their families by government forces and subsequently disappeared. In

By Pamela Schwartz Week seven and we’ve really settled in. Names and faces are familiar, as are the smiles and greetings we share with our University Beyond Bars classmates. The classroom is very welcoming, permitting us to practically ignore the intimidating walls and barbed wire that surround us. Our space, a non-descript classroom inside the

Jeff Coats was 14 years old when he kidnapped David Grenier and stole his car in Tacoma, Washington. The crime took place against a backdrop of moral panic: two criminologists forecast a wave of juvenile “superpredators” who would create a “teenage bloodbath” across America. 20 years later, Jeff and David reflect on the crime and

February 19, 2015. A reflection by Nicole Einbinder, a student participant in the International Studies “Task Force” supporting the Salvadoran human rights organization Asociación Pro-Busqueda: “This whole quarter, I have focused on researching the La Quesera massacre. I dug through human rights documents and radio and newspaper clippings, tracked down important dates, and learned in general

By Pamela Schwartz Monroe, Washington, home to the Reptile Zoo and the Evergreen State Fair. A quiet and unassuming town only 40 minutes northeast of Seattle, Monroe is also home to the Monroe Correctional Complex, a five-unit reformatory housing maximum, medium and minimum level prisoners. For the next 10 weeks, I along with 13 of

(An excerpt from our 2013-2014 Annual Report) By Angelina Godoy As Baltasar Garzón argues in the essay that opens this Annual Report, the need for justice in El Salvador remains urgent, despite the decades that have passed since the conclusion of the civil war. The urgency and importance of this work was brought home to us

(An excerpt from our 2013-2014 Annual Report) By Daniel Snyder Throughout the winter quarter of 2013-14, I had the unique opportunity to work alongside some of the most hardworking classmates I have ever had: inmates at the Washington State Reformatory in Monroe, Washington. Prior to this class, friends and family frequently asked ‘‘why would you

(An excerpt from our 2013-2014 Annual Report) By Bryce Ellis Over the course of the 2013-2014 academic year, I had the opportunity to participate in an honors research program through the Law, Societies and Justice program, studying the impact of deportation on immigrant families in Washington State. This was unlike any other class I have