Justice education: learning across differences - Dr. Kimberly Drake and Bernie Hernandez

Life in Higher Ed

Send us a text

In this episode, Professor Kim Drake and Bernie Hernandez discuss the Inside-Out Justice Initiative and the transformative impact of educational exchange programs. As a faculty member involved in the program, Professor Drake highlights the collaborative nature of the initiative, emphasizing, "It is about collaboration; a kind of equity across the demographics of those who participate in the Inside-Out Program." She further observes, "The inside students push themselves so hard that the outside students have to step up their game."
Kimberly Drake, PhD
Kimberly Drake teaches writing and literature at Scripps College, where she is Professor of Writing, Chair of the Writing and Rhetoric Department, and Director of the Writing Program. She has taught writing workshops and Inside-Out courses in Southern California prisons and at Crossroads Transitional Facility for Women since 2009. Her scholarly interests lie in protest and social justice rhetorics, specifically disability, incarceration, race, class, gender, and sexuality, in nonfiction and fiction; she also studies these topics as they relate to writing pedagogy. Publications reflect these interests: a monograph Subjectivity in the American Protest Novel (Palgrave Macmillan 2011); six edited volumes for Salem Press, including Richard Wright (2019), The Slave Narrative (2014), and Literature of Protest volume (2013); an edited collection of women’s writing about cooking in prison entitled Stinging for their Suppers: How Women in Prison Nourish Their Bodies and Souls (2013); and a co-authored forthcoming article about linguistic justice in prison.
Bernard “Bernie” Hernandez

Bernard “Bernie” Hernandez has been incarcerated since 2017 and is currently completing the remainder of his sentence in the L.A. County “Men’s Community Re-entry Program (MCRP). In May 2023, he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Studies from Pitzer College while incarcerated at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, CA & also obtained an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Los Angeles Harbor College. Bernie is also a program coordinator for the Justice Education Initiative in Claremont, CA. He facilitates the Inside/Out program at Pitzer College while attempting to expand the Prison Education System "Statewide" via the "CampUS" project at Norco, CA. Bernie has also done public service work in Washington, D.C. & Dallas, TX. His other accolades include awards from the U.S. House of Representatives & the City of Carson for his continued commitment to "Public Service.
Resources
Turning Teaching Inside Out: A Pedagogy of Transformation for Community-Based Education (2013) edited by Simone Well Davis and Barbara Sheer Roswell
Education Reduces Recidivism (2021) by Gregory Magee
Teaching to Transgress (2014) by bell hooks