In October, members of the PEP and BEJI community attended a birding walk held at Mt. Auburn cemetery with the Mass Audubon Boston Nature Center! In attendance were Brandeis undergraduate students Nemma Kalra and Adah Anderson, Partakers mentors Sara Smolver and Cassie Huck, Brandeis graduate student Jessi Brewer, BEJI co-founder Rosalind Kabrhel, and former/current PEP students David Williamson, Robert Loder, Dawud Abdul Basir, and James Barnes.
Attendee Jessi Brewer wrote an article about the event that you can read here!
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PEP Fall Cohort Starts
The Partakers Empowerment Program is halfway through its ninth cohort, which started this September! Our Brandeis graduate and undergraduate students involved with PEP have been dedicating their time to facilitate weekly workshops about education, personal finance, technology, health and wellness, professionalism, and civic engagement to 14 formerly/currently incarcerated participants.
PEP Fall Team
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From top left: Liz Peterson, Adah Anderson, Angie Jefferson
From middle left: Ella Subramanian, Dawud Abdul Basir, Charles Rosario, Kim Pate
Bottom: Nemma Kalra
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Suffolk County House of Correction
This semester, BEJI is piloting a new course at the Suffolk County House of Correction, "College Prep: Big Ideas, Questions About Money, and Other Adventures in Learning." Meeting twice a week for four weeks, students will begin to navigate college landscapes and collaborate on original research projects. Because incarcerated students have limited access to research materials, two Brandeis undergrads are joining the instructor as research assistants for several sessions. Students at the HOC will also write educational autobiographies (potentially useful for college applications), reports on academic disciplines that interest them, and educational goal-setting exercises. David Sherman, faculty in English at Brandeis, is teaching the course for men in the fall and women in the winter. He looks forward to being a part of these new, collaborative learning communities based on critical thinking and academic exploration.
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Nemma Kalra
Nemma is a sophomore at Brandeis majoring in psychology and anthropology and minoring in legal studies and English. She currently is working as a PEP undergrad facilitator.
Why did you get involved with PEP?
I was originally drawn to PEP because of my interest in carceral issues and my curiosity about methods of reimagining our prison system. When I first got involved with BEJI, I was more interested in working with individuals who were currently incarcerated; however, when I heard about this program, I was really excited about working with a new group of people. I think reentry can get overlooked when focusing on criminal justice reform, and I like that PEP tries to create a safe and supportive community for returning citizens.
What influence has PEP/BEJI had on deciding your career path?
I am not sure of my future career path just yet, but I would definitely love to keep working in the realm of criminal reform and restorative justice.
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Mac Hudson
Mac Hudson, a former PEP participant, was recently featured in a WGBH article, where he was interviewed about recidivism. In the article, he responds to issues about racial disparities and recidivism through the lens of his own experience with the carceral system and his work experience.
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National Conference on Higher Education in Prison
BEJI co-founders David Sherman and Rosalind Kabrhel, along with graduate student leader Elizabeth Peterson, are attending the National Conference on Higher Education in Prison in Atlanta. With the help of teaching assistant and former reentry student Dawud Abdul Basir, Kabrhel and Peterson will present BEJI's model for reentry programming. Sherman will lead a discussion on teaching literature in carceral spaces, and Sherman and Kabrhel will lead a workshop on creating a carceral studies curriculum.
Click here to livestream the conference and watch the BEJI team!
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