Inside Education is the
newsletter of the Alberta
Correctional Education
Association.
The newsletter is published
two or three times a year, and
submissions are always welcome.
The ACEA is a professional
organization facilitating the
educational needs of the
incarcerated;
The ACEA strives to broaden
professional horizons and
interdisciplinary interaction
of all personnel involved with
correctional education;
Texts published in Inside
Education express the views
of their authors and do not
necessarily represent the views
of the ACEA, its executive,
or the editor.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Honouring Our Voices
President’s Message
Editor’s Message
Surfing the WWW
Doodle
Staff Safety Awareness training
An Inmate Contribution
Honouring Our Voices
Sheri Lockwood
Bow Valley College instructor,
Calgary Remand Centre
Six men in blue coveralls and one woman in street clothes sat around the table, listening to a poet read her work. It could have been considered unusual, in a place like the Calgary Remand Centre (CRC), yet the group listened, talked, wrote in silence, and shared their writing.
Margot Van Sluytman was the poet. She is a recognized poet, facilitator and publisher.
With the support of Bow Valley College and Security at the CRC, we had invited Margot to facilitate a workshop for this select group of inmates in the centre’s Assessment and Treatment Unit.
The attendees were encouraged to acknowledge what was inside of them and write, to express their reactions to the poems read during the workshop.Everyone in the room that day had been given the option to attend the workshop, called Honouring Our
Voices. Margot’s family had been impacted by violent crime when she was a teen and the inmates had
been told that. Some of the inmates were facing charges for violent offences and Margot had been told that. Everyone, who was given the opportunity, chose to attend and to take part in the workshop.
The students had worked together previously. They had created the safety to express their thoughts and feelings together as a group in the classroom.
(continued on page 2)
|
