By Manolo Morales

This year there have been approximately 100 incarcerated men from Otisville Correctional Facility who applied to the John Jay Prison to College Pipeline Program that would allow them to earn college credits while still being in prison, but there were only fourteen slots available.

The program is oriented towards men who are within three years of release to get a head start on earning college credits for their education. The program’s goal is to make these men prioritize college as a positive reinforcement back into society and in doing so, the program aims to reduce recidivism.

Baz Dreisinger, an English professor, offers and teaches a class at the prison. She said that the program “offers incarcerated men, and eventually women, an opportunity to take college classes while in prison and then transition directly into college upon release.”

The pipeline program is funded by a private organization called the David Rockefeller Fund. Dreisinger, along with teaching the prison inmates, is also the director of the program alongside Ann Jacobs.

Dreisinger hopes that the fourteen slots available will double as the program grows but, “Money is what keeps it small,”she said

Yet Dreisinger points out that funds should be increased because the more money spent on the program the more money, through the prison system, will be saved. Less people going back to prison will ultimately save more money.

“Education saves us money because for every dollar spent on incarcerating someone, you can spend fifteen cents educating them, so it costs twice as much to incarcerate as to educate,” she told The Sentinel.

Before being accepted into the program, however, the men have to take the CUNY assessment test for reading and writing and those who pass must then submit an essay.   These essays are then read by the program personnel, who select the men they want to interview. The men who are accepted into the program are guaranteed a slot into any CUNY school of their choice.

Once a month, the men participate in a learning exchange program with John Jay students who go to the prison and engage with the men on various subjects.

“It’s an opportunity for the John Jay students here to see what goes on inside a prison environment, and meet these guys who probably don’t fit the image of a stereotypical inmate, so the students get to question their notions of what a stereotypical inmate is,” said Dreisinger.

Michelle Tsang, a junior majoring in Criminal Justice, is one of those students who is currently participating in the learning exchange program with the inmates of Otisville Correctional Facility. 

She said that the program has allowed her to gain a new perspective of an inmate, “These individuals who are incarcerated are extremely intelligent but society does not see that,” said Tsung, who is glad to be part of the pipeline program and, surprisingly, has learned that these men have much to say.

She believes that these men deserve a second chance, and by helping them, we are preventing recidivism.

This program has increased Tsang’s interest in the prison system.

“I definitely want to help these individuals to start over and start some type of mentor-ship or something for them because I do see that they have a lot of potential, and they also have more motivation,” said Tsang, who hopes to continue helping these individuals to rehabilitate.

Krystlelynn Caraballo, a senior majoring in Forensic Science, is another student who volunteers in the learning exchange program with the inmates of Otisville Correctional Facility.  This program is giving her an opportunity to interact  with inmates on a personal level.

“When I entered the classroom for the first time, I was extremely nervous not because I was fearful of the inmates, but rather I was afraid I may say something stupid and offend them,” said Caraballo, about meeting the inmates for the first time.

Caraballo wants to help these individuals in prison because “there are both economic and moral reasons to wanting to educate these individuals,” Caraballo said.  “First, if we do not educate these individuals, there is a strong likelihood that they will not fully understand the societal impact they are making.”

Dr. Kimora is an Assistant Professor in the Interdisciplinary Studies Department, who teaches criminal justice.  She taught a class on ethics at Otisville Correctional Facility in December, 2011.  Like Tsang and Caraballo, she also agrees that these incarcerated men are quite brilliant.

“I have come to learn that these men in prison are usually bright, creative, and deeply insightful,” she said.

Kimora believes that many of these men want to change, but they do not have the tools,  that is when people like her come in to help.

Kimora has been teaching in various facilities for 23 years.

“The work is challenging and so interesting,” she said.  “The clients are precious.”

Both Professors  Kimora and Dreisinger agree that people should care more about educating people in prison.

“We are one family,” Kimora said. “We just need to realize all the folks in prison and jail and on probation or parole are our brothers and sisters who need to heal.”

By Kamar Jay Foster

After a month-long campaign for the student council presidency, the incumbent has been deposed and Mehak Kapoor now holds the coveted office.

“It is about the students and it will always be about the students and that is why I serve,” said Kapoor, who, after a fierce competition, dethroned Whitney Brown in an election that for the first time in John Jay’s history included the option of voting online . 

Kapoor, although new to the position, is not without experience–she currently serves as Vice President on Brown’s Council for the 2011-2012 year.

Although the turnout was poor, Kapoor’s percentage margin of victory was great–she received 904 votes to Brown’s 502. Alexandria Geis came in third with 58 votes. Of the 1490 students, 24  did not vote on the president ballot.

“It doesn’t matter who runs against me or who I ran against,” said a confident Kapoor.

Whether badly run campaigns or student apathy is to blame, turn out at the polls has consistently been less than stellar. The college, which has a student population of 12,887 undergraduates, only had 1,490 of our fellow students running to their computers to vote through the new online election system. So why would over 10,000 students decide not to avail of this collegiate democratic process?

“Simple… I didn’t care, I didn’t vote,” said Leon Moore, a junior. ”What does student council government have to do with me? It doesn’t benefit me in anyway.”

But others were simply unaware of the ongoing electoral process.

“What campaign? – I got an email saying don’t forget to vote, and all I saw were two posters down the hall. Hey, perhaps I just don’t care and it doesn’t benefit me, but I do prefer to vote.”  said Nikoletta Despedova, senior

Most of the students that were interviewed, however, maintained that student elections are important, especially at John Jay, believing that politics is important , since we are a school dedicated towards justice.

To her friends, Kapoor is known as an active student with varied interests.

“I voted for Mehak because she approached students personally and also because I know her,” said Stephanie Rojas, a senior.

But one of her first tasks in office will be to convince students that Student Government matters.

Kapoor invites the challenge. Some of her potential projects include a graduate networking gala, a professional committee that would help students craft cover letters and resumes and a student government open house that would allow students to get acquainted with their representatives for one week at the beginning of each semester.

By Jason Chester

The Midnight Run Organization was started primarily for individuals who were either too sick or too weak to fend for themselves in homeless shelters. So instead, those who had nowhere else to turn chose the streets over the shelters. This almost seems counterintuitive at first.

“Shelters are worse than prisons,” Sarah Shattuck, president of the John Jay chapter of Habitat for Humanity’s club, said. She explained that unlike prison, there are no guards around in shelters to make sure nothing bad happens. It was only a little over a month ago when I walked into the Habitat for Humanity’s office wondering what they did. The humanities club hosts a midnight run every month except January. The club began to participate in the run almost immediately after its creation in 2010 but the Midnight Run, a separate entity, began in the mid-80’s. The founder of the run, who goes only by Dale, was once homeless himself.

Shattuck told me that the run involves going out to different locations to give food, clothing and toiletries to the homeless.

Declan Walsh, the director for Community Outreach, greeted me with a warm handshake and an honest smile. I told him I was interested in the Midnight Run, an event I was informed about through one of those general announcements.

Before joining the run, I had always perceived the homeless to be leeches of society that had every opportunity that I did. Shattuck said this was a “common misconception” and that “most of them are regular people, like you or I.”

But after that night, my view of the homeless changed drastically.

A Choice

Declan guided me to a room where sandwiches were already packaged and clothes were folded on a table and I took out the two shirts and one jacket I donated.

In the room there were two other young men. One was Declan’s son, Ceamus Walsh, (pronounced Shamus) a freshman in high school volunteering on a school night. Then there was Joshua Belmonte; his enthusiasm could be seen through his endless stream of words.

“It’s good we’re going out to feed the homeless, a lot of them out there are around our age,” was all I was able to catch from Belmonte.

Aside from those guys there were some women volunteering as well. Shattuck, Vidivel Espino, Gabrielle Maraj, and Caryn Quinteros.  We were later joined by two other guys, Joseph Vargas and Gerry Fervier. They were all John Jay students.

At 9.30pm we packed all the stuff up to be loaded up in the midnight run van. The driver Jace has been involved for 11 years; he was polite and kind, but straightforward.

Before we left, Shattuck gave us a pep talk; she thanked everyone for coming out. She said, “We have freedom when we go places. We have a choice” but for the most part, the homeless we would soon visit didn’t.

“Tonight, when we greet the people, ask them, what would you like? Whatever they need let them know they have a choice.”

The Tired and Hungry

When the van was loaded with coffee, chili, turkey and ham sandwiches with Swiss cheese and the toiletries, we were off to the first stop on 28^th street and 11^th avenue, which was a dark street corner with no one around.

Jace and Shattuck left to see if there were homeless people hanging around on the corners, while the rest of us waited in the van.

A few minutes later they returned with a group of about 20 homeless people.

There were mostly men with a few women in the crowd. I was surprised by their appearances. They didn’t look homeless. I expected the deranged types you see on the trains and laid out in street corners begging for change. But surprisingly, they were all sane and well kept. I wouldn’t have known they were homeless if I was standing next to them on the street.

They really were just people who for some reason or another had fallen on hard times and were thankful for what we were doing.

We began distributing the donated food, toiletries and clothes from the back of the van, which was where I was located. I felt good that I was able to give them something that they considered valuable.

Fervier, Belmonte and I worked together. Because Fervier and Belmonte were more experienced, I just assisted them whenever and however I could. And when I saw the clothes that I donated being handed out, it made me feel like I had made a small difference, especially when I saw a guy looking at the shirt like it was made of gold.

The next stop was 26^th street and 6^th avenue. There was a bigger crowd there but still the same set of polite calm individuals. When we first drove up, the crowd rushed over to the van and peered in through the windows like children opening gifts on Christmas morning.

They were excited to be getting new clothes and fresh food and who wouldn’t be?

The third and last stop was on 28^th street and 9^th avenue. There was a group also waiting for us there.  It was the same situation, except here there were more women than I expected.

They reminded me of my mom. It was eerie, looking into those maternal faces. I did my best to give them anything they wanted. Maraj was running around making sure she took their orders for whatever clothing they needed and got back to me.

I think, right there it hit me:

All the dance clubs, the girls, the hip-hop songs, the comics books, my hobbies, meant nothing compared to standing here and helping out those who were in need. Everything came down to sharing. I could have as many things as I wanted, but sharing was what brought me the most joy.

Shattuck seemed to embody this idea the most. After the last midnight run in February, her club was out of money, so the majority of food brought for this run was provided through her own funding.

She gave her time and money, while the majority of us wouldn’t even give these people a thought.

“We can learn a lot from them,” she said.