Students for Prison Education and Reform has circulated an online petition to the Wilson School asking for the creation of a task force that focuses on mass incarceration in America.
SPEAR founders Grace Li ’14 and Shaina Watrous ’14 created the petition after noting the dearth of Wilson School classes on mass incarceration in America.
Though there are classes on “tangential topics,” Li said, both she and Watrous decided that it would be a good idea to have a task force solely focused on mass incarceration added to the curriculum.
The objective of this proposed task force — which would consist of 10 to 12 Wilson School concentrators — would be for juniors to write their junior papers on mass incarceration and submit “some kind of prescriptive policy recommendation” to a government body such as the New Jersey Department of Corrections, Li explained.
“[Mass incarceration] is one of the biggest and lesser known civil rights issues that’s affecting us today,” Li said. “Princeton is doing a good job on focusing on new and current issues. The Woodrow Wilson School has a task force on cyber security, but mass incarceration is missing right now.”
Li and Watrous created SPEAR in 2013 to address the issue of prison education and reform on campus. One of the objectives was to create a petition for a task force on mass incarceration. According to Watrous, part of her motivation in proposing the task force was her experience working with prisoners through the Petey Greene Tutoring Program.
“Mass incarceration isn’t something that is part of our consciousness,” Watrous said. “The people who it affects are locked up. It’s our responsibility to bring that message forward.”
SPEAR’s activities include on-campus awareness events, advocacy trips and curriculum development for GED tutoring programs at local prisons, according to the online petition. Li said the organization has 119 people on its listserv.
As of Wednesday evening, 92 people have signed the online petition, according to Li. A majority of the signatures are from SPEAR members who are also Wilson School or prospective Wilson School majors.
“Because it’s not really a typical petition, the department would only need some interest,” Li said of the magnitude of student interest needed to justify the creation of the task force. “A task force only has 10 to 12 people in general. It would probably be difficult if [the Wilson School] had too much interest.”
Watrous said there was also support from other majors. She said that the support is “very indicative and representative of the people who are a part of SPEAR.”
SPEAR sent a paper copy of the petition to Wilson School Undergraduate Program Director Nathan Scovronick, along with a letter drafted by Watrous, over spring break.
Following a meeting with Scovronick on April 11, Li said Scovronick and the Wilson School “recognize the importance of and are absolutely in support of doing research on the subject of mass incarceration and related issues.” She said SPEAR received positive feedback during the meeting but that no decisions had yet been made to create a new task force next year.
Scovronick, Wilson School Program Manager Monica Ruscil and Wilson School Undergraduate Faculty Chair Christina Davis did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
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