Searching for Spirituality in Prison
Tuesday, February 02 2010
by Frank Stasio and Lindsay Thomas
Frank Stasio at the Raleigh Correctional Center for Women
Students of the course “Novels and Spiritual Journey” are assigned to read works of fiction that challenge their ideas about faith and religion. Then, they are asked to pen parts of their own memoirs rooted in those lessons of spirituality. Some of the students are women from Duke Divinity School. The others live where the course is taught: at the Raleigh Correctional Center for Women. The combination of theologians and inmates in the classroom creates a unique educational atmosphere and a community that reflects the advantages of cultural exchange and sisterhood. Host Frank Stasio goes inside the prison to speak to some of the students and their instructors, including the program director Sarah Jobe, about the search for spirituality in prison.
For more audio from SOT's visit to the Raleigh Correctional Center for Women, click here to hear the voices of Duke Divinity School student April Coates, course instructor Lauren Winner, "soon-to-be-former" inmate Theresa Godfrey, and course instructor Enuma Okoro. And for photos from the prison, visit our Facebook fan page.
