The 2015–2016 academic year was a busy one for the Rethinking Punishment project, a UWCHR-supported initiative combining teaching, research, and public advocacy to promote human rights-focused approaches to problems of violence and mass incarceration. An ambitious agenda, and one that is setting the stage for new projects that could change the way that Washington State

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

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

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 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