When the Dust Settles: The Afterlife of Graterford and Its Short-Lived Reforms

In "Students Fight Prisons" by Rosemary Clark, it is revealed that 2013 marked a rather active year in prison reform on Ursinus's campus. Alex Niedmann, a student that hosted a viewing party for a documentary about race and mass incarceration, is inderviewed for this article and highlights that many Ursinus students are connected to Graterford in some way, either having a friend or family member incarcerated or formerly incarcerated. This, then, communicates that there should be more attention placed on the relationship between the prison and the college. In addition, Clark interviewed a former inmate at Graterford Prison in 2013, who discussed systemic racism and Graterford's resources, e.g., education and healthcare programs. Although no real mention of the literacy project is made, this article gives first-hand insight to how the prison treated its inmates and suggest that the reform that included the literacy project did not help much in the grand scheme of things.