Kaitlyn Hughes | features editor

Every Tuesday and Thursday a group of 20 Duquesne freshmen congregate for their 8:30 a.m. class. They don’t gather in one of the normal lecture halls. Instead, they arrive at Allegheny County Jail.

In 2009, the first group of Duquesne students made their way down to the jail to participate in a course with incarcerated citizens. Eventually, the class became a part of Duquesne’s learning communities, which are two thematically related classes taken by the same group of liberal arts students in the fall semester of their freshman year. Taking form as the Justita learning community, it’s a combination of Intro to Criminal Justice and Democracy and Freedom classes.

Professor Norman Conti first got trained on how to facilitate Inside-Out programs such as this 17 years ago. The idea of Inside-Out started at Temple University with a goal of creating opportunities for people inside and outside of prison to have transformative learning experiences. Through collaboration and dialogue they address issues surrounding social justice, according to The Inside-Out Center.

“The goal is for [students] to imagine different types of justice than what we have in this country,” Conti said.

Conti currently teaches the class in conjunction with Jeff McCurry, director of Gumberg Library’s Simon Silverman Phenomenology Center and Susan Stein, the author of “Etty.”

At first Conti simply taught about criminal justice, but then he decided to incorporate his interest in William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” into the course. Now, on Tuesdays, Conti teaches the criminal justice course, and on Thursdays, the students and incarcerated citizens learn and perform “Hamlet” with McCurry and Stein.

“The idea was to get students to learn about ‘Hamlet,’ and then think about ways before act five when they can ruin the play — stop everyone from dying,” Conti said.

The way the students do this is through learning about restorative justice, which is a model of justice that takes into consideration the needs of the victim, offender and community.

On Tuesday Dec. 3, the second-to-last class, they participated in a restorative justice circle.

In their designated roles from “Hamlet,” the students and incarcerated citizens came up with solutions for the characters’ problems through dialogue.

Dawn Lehman, a restorative justice facilitator, came into the class to lead the circle. She reminded the class that the goals of this were to give the characters what they need to be successful in a healthy way, provide alternatives to the current legal system, reflect on their actions and emphasize that everyone’s voice matters.

Students immersed themselves in their roles.

“Everyone has a lot to contribute, and it’s interesting because it’s taking everyone out of their comfort zone,” Conti said.

Following their last class, the Duquesne students had been moved by their experience.

“Everyone has a story,” Lily Armstrong said. “You don’t know someone until you hear their entire story.”

Conti said it is important for students, especially freshmen, to have experiences like this because there is so much beyond the university that should be taken advantage of and used for the learning process.

“In all these years, I’ve seen my Inside-Out students go on to do great things,” Conti said.

The students are only allowed to build relationships with the incarcerated citizens during the time of the course.

Conti said this makes those relationships more valuable because the students know it’s ending.

“I genuinely am sad [that it’s over],” said Duquesne student Evelyn Sorg. “[It was] truly a once in a lifetime experience that I would gladly do again.”

Connie Clark, assistant deputy warden for programs and services, said that the goal with any programming is to help individuals within the jail who are struggling to address their needs. They want people to leave with new skills or abilities that they didn’t have before they were incarcerated.

Clark said that the Duquesne class teaches incarcerated citizens more than just Shakespeare. It helps them to look at things from a creative standpoint and think critically.

“It’s an opportunity for them to do something as just a person and not an inmate in a jail,” Clark said.

When they are in the classroom they are side by side with the Duquesne students, creating a normal learning environment.

Not only does the class have an impact on the incarcerated citizens, but it also affects the Duquesne students.

“[Students] have their own perception of what it means to be incarcerated, or why people end up incarcerated, or who those people are,” Clark said. “To be able to sit in a classroom with them and have real human interaction brings a whole different level of understanding.”

Clark said that the incarcerated students have embraced their time with the Duquesne class and are very passionate while learning Hamlet.

Incarcerated citizen Deon Dutrieuille said this experience was a breath of fresh air for him.

“[It] creates more appreciation to expand with the outside world,” Dutrieuille said.