This collaborative, dialogical study, coauthored with three incarcerated students, examines how participation in a college-in-prison program shapes identity development. Drawing on narrative identity theory, it analyzes how education supports agency, communion, and self-understanding, revealing the transformative potential of prison classrooms for policy, pedagogy, and student-serving practices. Data were generated through semi-structured dialogical sessions, reflective writing, and iterative analytic memos, emphasizing reflexivity and the co-construction of knowledge.Findings highlight three key processes (1) disruption of contaminated narratives through opportunities for reflection, achievement, and “nuclear episodes” (2); cultivation of agency and communion within classroom interactions that counter the dehumanizing structures of incarceration; and (3) negotiation with broader cultural and institutional master narratives, revealing the liberatory potential and persistent constraints of college-in-prison. These findings position programs not merely as instructional interventions but as narrative sites where students reconstruct identity and meaning. The study underscores the importance of mutuality, intellectual rigor, and recognition, offering guidance for higher education institutions, correctional agencies, and policies seeking to foster transformative learning in carceral settings.
Conway et al. (Thu,) studied this question.