Confined in the walls of a prison, it is hard to stay hopeful. As one inmate said, “One of the things that incarceration has done to me is compounded feelings of worthlessness and meaninglessness, which I’ve already struggled with most of my life. For the first time in a long time, I feel once again in control of my own future and that good things could be just beyond the horizon.”

On the evening of September 13, Rev. Thomas B. Curran, S.J., returned to Rockhurst University to present on the Jesuit Prison Education Network (JPEN).

The university’s Thomas More Center for Catholic Thought and Culture hosted the presentation in Arrupe Auditorium as part of its “Conversation Series,” which features noted scholars discussing Catholic beliefs and culture. The first event of the 2023-2024 school year featured Rockhurst’s very own former president, Fr. Curran. He was joined by Dr. Craig Watz, director of Rockhurst’s program at Chillicothe Correctional Center, and Dr. Annie Phoenix, executive director of the Jesuit Social Research Institute at Loyola University New Orleans.

The focus of this conversation was JPEN. Founded by Fr. Curran, JPEN is a new Jesuit initiative that offers college credit courses to inmates and prison staff.

The JPEN program aligns with the Jesuit mission. Thomas More, patron saint of Rockhurst, and St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, both spent time in prison. JPEN gives members of the Jesuit community the opportunity to “be agents of transformation in the areas of social justice and inequality,” said Watz.

“The Thomas More Center promotes critical and committed analysis of Catholic tradition,” said Fr. Curran. “One of these traditions is the corporal works of mercy. A corporal work of mercy is to visit the imprisoned.”

Fr. Curran presented alarming statistics: the U.S has 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of the incarcerated population. Today’s prison expenditures are 200% more than those for the indigent. In 2021, New York City spent an average of $556,539 per inmate in the Rikers Island jail complex. For these reasons, Fr. Curran decided that prison reform was something he and the Jesuit Community needed to get involved in through JPEN.

Not only are the Jesuit values a key motivator, but they make JPEN special. “When Fr. Curran came to speak to the Raytown students about Jesuit education, he opened their eyes. Our students started to see that they were part of something even bigger than their Loyola education. They were part of a Jesuit network,” said Pheonix.

At the Chillicothe Correctional Center, the Rockhurst JPEN campus, students proudly rep their Rockhurst T-shirts, thrilled to have a Jesuit student identity. As Fr. Curran repeated three times in his presentation, “Jesuit education is not a thing, it is an experience.”

Chillicothe Correctional Center is a women’s prison 90 miles northeast of Kansas City. Watz described the prison as “bleak.” Inmates wear gray or brown uniforms with a white T-shirt, the halls have plain brown walls, and the facility is surrounded by razor wire fences. Yet life inside the classroom does not reflect life inside the jail. In the classroom, the students have a spark in their eyes and are passionate to learn.

As one inmate said, “When I step inside this classroom, I am no longer a woman in prison. I am a Rockhurst student.”

Although it is not easy for Fr. Curran, Watz or the other 15 Rockhurst professors who have participated in JPEN to make the hour drive to Chillicothe, it is worthwhile when students say the program makes them “feel human again,” said Fr. Curran. “Prison is a system of dehumanizing. Hearing students say this reminds me we are where we need to be, and it is consistent with St. Ignatius’ life.”

So far, JPEN has taught 19 college courses, awarded 53 credit hours, and students have an average 3.94 GPA. In 2024, 11 students will be on track to receive their associate’s degree.

JPEN hopes to branch out to other Jesuit institutions to coordinate efforts, share resources and transform lives through shared experience and humanity. Not only has JPEN changed the lives of the students, it has given participating members of the Rockhurst Community the opportunity to live out Jesuit values, strengthening their sense of purpose and interconnectedness with the world.