A number of courses taught by Professor Roy and others have put Cal State LA students in critical dialogue with prisoners at Lancaster State prison. These opportunities have ranged from tutoring incarcerated students in the Lancaster BA program and other prison education programs in southern California, to exchanging correspondence with participants in the Paws For Life dog program at Lancaster prison.
Interested students should contact the Office for Engagement, Service, and the Public Good to inquire about the specific opportunities offered each semester.
In the News
One of the earliest WordsUncaged projects linked Cal State LA English classes with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and Karma Rescue in a university-community partnership program structured around inmate writing, student writing, and rescue dogs. Inmates in a California prison and students in a general education literature class both worked with training rescue dogs as part of Karma Rescue's Paws for Life program and wrote about their experiences. These journals and letters were exchanged and both students and inmates learned about the varying responses to their reading and to their experience with the animals.
Courses Associated with WordsUncaged
ENGL 3855 - Crimes, Scenes, Interpretations: Literature and the Law
ENGL 3980 - Cooperative Education: Internship (by special arrangement only)
ENGL 4925 - Practicum in Literature and Language (Fall 2016 only)