Note: This session will be offered in person only. Instructors teaching courses in Georgetown’s Bachelor of Liberal Arts at Patuxent Institution often confront barriers that are seemingly unique to prison education. How can we reproduce the rigor of Georgetown University undergraduate courses in a context often defined by its lack of access to resources and its restrictions on student and instructor activities? Yet we believe that teaching amidst these challenges requires that we think beyond the deficits and limitations of the prison context. Instead, we seek teaching methods grounded in creativity and flexibility that we believe can offer models of generative pedagogy that are useful in carceral and traditional classrooms alike. How has teaching in prison helped us engage students’ creativity and our own? How can we approach barriers as an opportunity to generate new approaches and methods for teaching and thinking? In this presentation, we will offer case studies from our own experiences teaching and facilitating a degree program at Patuxent Institution and encourage discussion of teaching challenges, both those our program currently faces and those faced by instructors on main campus.
Assistant Director of the Bachelor of Liberal Arts Program, Georgetown University
Lucy Sheehan is Assistant Director of the Bachelor of Liberal Arts Program at Patuxent Institution and Assistant Teaching Professor at PJI. Her research and teaching focuses on nineteenth-century British literature and culture, and her writing has appeared in Victorian Studies, Victorian... Read More →
Patuxent Site Coordinator, Georgetown University's Prisons and Justice Initiative
Darryl Byers-Robinson is a dedicated advocate for education accessibility and criminal justice reform, serving as the Patuxent Site Coordinator at Georgetown University's Prisons and Justice Initiative. With firsthand experience and extensive institutional expertise, he is committed... Read More →
Director of the Bachelor of Liberal Arts Program, Georgetown University
Emily Hainze is Director of the Bachelor of Liberal Arts Program at Patuxent Institution and Assistant Teaching Professor at PJI. Her teaching and research interests include 19th and 20th century U.S. literature, the history of race, gender and incarceration in the U.S., and archival... Read More →
Director of Communications, Prisons and Justice Initative, Georgetown University
Shanessa Taylor earned a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a Master of Professional Studies in Public Relations and Corporate Communications from Georgetown University.After completing a year of AmeriCorps, she held communications... Read More →
Wednesday May 20, 2026 9:30am - 10:45am EDT Film Screening RoomSecond Floor of Healey Family Student Center
