The Prison Tour Pedagogy: Getting It Right
The Prison Tour Pedagogy: Getting It Right
L. Paul SuttonCriminal Justice Program, School of Public Affairs, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USAL. Paul Sutton, Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus in the Criminal Justice Program in the School of Public Affairs at San Diego State University. His research interests include criminal and constitutional law, sentencing, and corrections. Early in his career, he became a documentary filmmaker with a number of Emmy Award-winning feature documentaries about prison to his credit. His third documentary, Prison Through Tomorrow’s Eyes, chronicles the eye-opening experiences of one group of students who participated in the weeklong “PrisonTour” program that is described in this article. Over the life of that program, he escorted nearly 3,000 students on 113 weeklong excursions visiting prisons across California. Over the course of 33 years, those excursions included most of the state and federal prisons in the state, during which time, he developed dozens of lifelong friendships with both prisoners and staff (and students)—friendships that have endured well beyond the bounds of the prisons, themselves. https://vimeo.com/92949779