After all the keys and cell phones and purses were collected, after the elevator moved down a few floors, after his fellow inmates stared at the guests through a window in the wall, Michael Luper took out a folded piece of paper from the breast pocket of his orange jumpsuit.
He read it again before his speech.
“I want to paint you a picture...” the first line of the page said.
Luper was nominated to make a persuasive argument in front of the class as a part of the final ceremony in IU’s Public and Oral Communication course, which comprised IU students and male inmates at Monroe County Jail. The course is often referred to as an “inside-out” course, because it combines students from outside the jail with the inmates.
“They’re not studying one another,” the course instructor Lindsey Badger said. “They’re not tutoring each other. They’re learning together.”
The course met three times a week throughout six weeks of the summer to examine different modes of communication in the community while contemplating alternative methods of social justice in the county. Many of the issues discussed focused on the corrections department and what happens to inmates after they are released from prison.
Luper advocated for free bus fare in Monroe County in his speech. He has written letters to the editor that have been published in the Herald-Times.
A timeline of the American presidents hung on the wall next to motivational posters that said “Grow” and “Persistence.”
IU sophomore Anne-Therese Ryan sat by inmate Ty Jackson, her small black shoes next to his jail-issued orange Crocs.
“I now know who they are as people, as citizens, not as criminals,” Ryan said. “This course helps you see past the orange jumpsuit.”
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Seats were arranged in two circles — one inside, one outside — for a communication exercise called Wagon Wheel. Badger asked the class to discuss what they gained from the course.
Inmates and IU students shared nervous glances and smiled at each other.
The inside circle moved once to the right each time a new question was asked. Each inmate introduced himself with a handshake.
The inmates in the public and oral speaking course are from the recovery dorm, which is designated for former addicts. Some of the ideas they discussed were how to provide better services in the community for addicts.
Inmate Nate Goff also sat in the inside circle. He has been in jail for a year, longest of all the inmates in the class.
“These kinds of classes give people who are incarcerated a new life,” he said. “It gives us hope for what we could be.”
The course is made possible by the nonprofit organization New Leaf, New Life, which helps inmates transition to life after being released.
Goff sat next to inmate Justin Rice, who had arrived at the jail three days prior. They knew each other growing up.
Rice has spent time in several county jails after being caught for possession of marijuana and paraphernalia.
IU junior Kelsey Lanham said she learned about the disparity in treatment between townies and IU students during the class.
She knows people who have been caught doing similar things as Rice that were students at IU and were treated much differently, she said.
She said one inmate told her, “That’s not how it is for us.”
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Maybe life is just a game of invincibility , student Jesse said.
He listed crimes he committed in his life, some similar to those of the inmates in the room.
“Who’s to say who wins and loses the game?” he asked.
Closing statements were made on the podium alongside Jesse.
Guests had tearful eyes.
Inmate Clarence Butler walked up to the podium.
He had only been in the Monroe County Jail for five days, but attended several of the public and oral speaking classes and commended it for its efforts.
“I learned warrant can mean two things,” Butler said.
It can mean a commission or document giving authority to do something, he said, or it can mean a short-term obligation of a governmental body.
“I know may seem minor, but you start a thousand miles with the first step,” he said.
