{"id":1842,"date":"2025-09-21T11:20:02","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T15:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/inquirer\/?p=1842"},"modified":"2025-09-23T14:31:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T18:31:10","slug":"my-first-encounter-with-higher-learning-while-still-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/inquirer\/2025\/09\/21\/my-first-encounter-with-higher-learning-while-still-in-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"My First Encounter with Higher Learning while Still in Prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tony Acevedo, John Jay College, Liberal Arts A.A.<\/h3>\n
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Author’s personal image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are a few days in my life I will never forget: the day my daughter was born, the day I was locked in at Otisville correctional facility, and the day I was finally released. Another was when I saw the poster announcing the upcoming college enrollment and John Jay Info session. At first, I thought it was an ill attempt at bringing life and joy to a place devoid of such rarities, but that corny poster design was sufficient to pique my curiosity and natural inclination towards learning new things. The desire to explore and have open discussions with like-minded individuals had my imagination working overtime; I would constantly think about my future possibilities. I craved education in a structured setting, and this seemed to be the chance I said I would jump on if presented to me.<\/p>\n

The correctional staff saw it differently: like everything positive for the incarcerated population, \u201cfree college for criminals\u201d (?!) angered the correctional staff. As they saw it, it was an outrage! In addition to having to deal with correctional officers, we as students also had to worry about other incarcerated individuals, because at the end of the day it is a prison, and my 15-year sentence taught me that one can never let their guard down.<\/p>\n

Many negative things occurred while enrolled and studying in college while in prison. The sabotage is real. The correctional officers did not care, and it was not a priority for any incarcerated individual to take classes, and I mean since it\u2019s not mandatory, the C.O.\u2019s do not care. Often they would create a situation where we had to choose between shopping for our food or going to class; it would have been easy to allow us to shop earlier in the day (for commissary). Or sometimes, whilst in the middle of a class, a student might be called to move beds, or housing units, to go to bogus medical appointments (known as mandatory \u201cCall Outs\u201d in prison) or to perform job duties.<\/p>\n

On top of that, as inmates our lives within the prison walls are marred and plagued with distrust. First, there\u2019s the distrust of attorneys, and then of the counseling staff, and finally of all state employees dealing with corrections. So when we first met these professors, we were very apprehensive because we thought even though they might be new people coming into a facility, the architecture and the guards are still very real and present. Funny thing is that everything that seemed negative and harmful disappeared, it melted away with stereotypes of dumb inmates and wasted tax dollars, the fights, the correctional assaults on the population, the abuse. All of it evaporated. Freedom. Maybe not the liberty to come and go, but the freedom to think and learn and explore with our minds, and that is enough where \u201cnothing\u201d is the norm.<\/p>\n

We as students were allowed by the state to own extra supplies as far as property (books, magazines, paper, pens etc.), to have access to the general library at any module during the day, and to enjoy privileges that would aid our censored learning. The reading material we received was limited because of what was deemed safe and secure and what was not. A book talking about<\/p>\n

criminology might have been a red flag because it might incite a riot or teach us how to organize. Or God forbid teach us how to understand why we are where we are, and learning about anything that dealt with prison reform was almost a no. But when we started to gather, we saw each other differently: listening to other men\u2019s stories and passions, I started to realize that I am not alone, that there are men just as hungry, or hungrier, than I am to learn, to have their worlds blown, and to show that they are capable.<\/p>\n

In the classes all the brave men that signed up would meet to form part of something like a fellowship. We weathered other incarcerated men telling us that John Jay was too liberal, or that we were not going to pass the classes regardless of how good we did, and much more. So? After 13 \u00bd years in, I did not mind, and I could not be bothered with what others thought. I plunged in headfirst. I knew that I wanted to be a writer, and so I chose classes that aligned with my passions. Non-fiction creative writing? Wtf? Does that really exist, short answer: Yes. I did not know that I would eventually be published with John Jay\u2019s finest in the school publication, or that when I joined the theater workshop that I would eventually end up doing three shows and helping with lighting for another. We sure enough didn\u2019t know these things would happen, so we focused on what was directly ahead and when we came up for air, we were amazed and in disbelief of such strides and accomplishments.<\/p>\n

When I came in as a student Covid had just ravished the country and things were coming back into operations such as programs and classes within the prison. We would first meet in a classroom and then in a place called \u201cThe Blue Room.\u201d The room is big enough to hold at least 85 people comfortably. The set up is buffet style, tables on the outer edge of the room indicating the class and the books available. What? Books? I was like damn, I got everything, from pencils to pens and calculators. I cried. This brought me back to the south Bronx when my mother had to struggle to find me and my five sisters suitable school supplies. And here I was a grown man in prison, getting supplies for free because of the Pell grants. Thanks Biden.<\/p>\n

Everyone was just giddy to grab their stuff, looking at every item with astonishment and secretly saying a prayer under their breath hoping that it was all true. I became very serious about learning and keeping deadlines. Time management was difficult because I had other obligations, and yet I got it done. And yes, there is a little chaos, but I enjoyed it the most, and especially because I was a John Jay clerk that assisted with set up and breakdowns. I figured if I was going to be a student, then I had to be the best. I didn\u2019t have to compete or fight others; I had to fight and compete against me. I believe that if I fight others, there will always be a winner and a loser, but I fight myself, and I lose, I only level up. And that\u2019s what I did, and now I am a John Jay graduate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tony Acevedo, John Jay College, Liberal Arts A.A.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3579,"featured_media":1885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"coauthors":[12],"class_list":{"0":"post-1842","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fall-2025","8":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/inquirer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/inquirer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/inquirer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/inquirer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3579"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/inquirer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1842"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/inquirer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2019,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/inquirer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1842\/revisions\/2019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/inquirer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/inquirer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/inquirer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/inquirer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1842"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/inquirer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=1842"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/inquirer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}