ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses mass incarceration, the prison-industrial complex, and the commitment to addressing both as communication scholars and educators. It offers a brief overview of the theoretical and practical approach to these issues, grounded in the principles of communication activism for social justice. The chapter then describes the commitment to practicing critical pedagogy in the prison classroom, acknowledging both the challenges and opportunities that arise when applying particular principles of critical pedagogy in a prison context. Prison scholars and activists also have pointed out the deeply embedded and significant philosophical tensions between the respective goals of prison educators and prison administrators. A commitment to progressive pedagogy involves not only continued reflection about the appropriateness and efficacy of particular teaching practices in particular prison classrooms. Another important aspect of dialogue in critical pedagogy is reciprocity—and, along with it, vulnerability. In the classroom, and in the prison classroom specifically, vulnerability often takes the form of personal storytelling.
