Spring 2026 CMU Prison Education Project Course
79-252: A Global History of Crime and Punishment
Professor Wendy Goldman
This course covers the history of crime and punishment, beginning in the Middle Ages and ending in the present. We will examine numerous cases, from justice as practiced in African villages to the workhouses created by the British Poor Laws to the Gulag labor camp system in the Soviet Union to the rise of the penitentiary in Europe and the United States. We will read about crime and punishment in the United States, looking at various models from the work gang to solitary confinement. We end by examining the era of mass incarceration to understand how it became a solution to larger problems in American society.
The course will be taught as part of the CMU Prison Education project and will take place inside Somerset State Correctional Institution. CMU students will learn alongside incarcerated students. All receive full credit for the course.
This course meets both the Dietrich Gen Ed "Perspectives on Justice and Injustice" requirement and the experiential learning requirement.
We travel on the bus to and from Somerset prison. The bus leaves CMU on Fridays at 12:30 and returns at 6:45. Class time inside the prison runs from 2:30 to 5:10.
An application for admission to the course is required. Please fill out this brief questionnaire in advance.
CMU Prison Education Project
Carnegie Mellon University's Prison Education Project (CMU PEP) is committed to bringing education into prison, offering new opportunities to inmates and CMU students, and building dialogue across class, racial and social lines.
Prisons play a key role in the U.S. economy and incarceration rates in the U.S. surpass those of any country in the world. We need to learn more about our prison system: what its origins are, whose interests it serves, and how it compares with systems of incarceration in other countries.
Based on the philosophy of Inside-Out, a nationwide prison education program, CMU PEP offers several courses each academic year within nearby prisons. Faculty and CMU students travel together by bus to and from the prison once a week. Each course, which combines CMU students and inmates, provides full credit to CMU and incarcerated students and follows a regular CMU curriculum. CMU students should register for PEP courses through normal channels and will be asked to fill out a short questionnaire, which professors will review to determine eligibility.
2025-2026 CMU PEP Courses
Fall 2025
76-251: Exploring Creative Writing in Community
Professor: Jane McCafferty
This course exposes students to nonfiction, fiction and poetry, with the aim of teaching students the craft of writing about their own lived experience. Everyone will read books, stories, essays and poems together. Students will create their own writings that they will share with one another in our writing workshop, based on prompts from the professor. The course does not require extensive writing experience, just a strong desire to read and write and tell stories. We’ll consider how the way we craft stories about our lives can end up changing the way we see ourselves, each other, and the world. Class will be run as a discussion, where all are invited to participate. Emphasis will be on deep listening and developing community connection, as everyone learns more about the craft of writing.
76-245: Shakespeare - Tragedies and Histories
Professor: Stephen Wittek
In the closing decades of the sixteenth century, enterprising cultural producers in early modern London began to develop a new commercial venture called ‘playing’: a business that offered ordinary people a few hours of dramatic entertainment for the price of one penny. More than four hundred years later, the drama of the period now ranks among the most esteemed texts in all English literature, and the name ‘Shakespeare’ has become a byword for literary genius. This course will offer an overview of Shakespeare’s tragedies and histories, exploring what these plays meant in their original context. This course meets a GenEd requirement.
Spring 2025 PEP Speakers
Norman Conti: Are There Some Histories That are Off Limits?
Performing History with Incarcerated Students, Returning Citizens, Police Officers and More
Thursday, Jan. 16, 4:30 to 6 p.m., Posner Hall 234
Fall 2024 PEP Speakers
Doing Transnational Justice: Lessons from Incarceration Nations Network
Wednesday, Sept. 18, 4:30 to 6 p.m., The Johnstone Room (Posner 234) Read full event description
Prison Book Bannings: The Fight Against Censorship
Monday, Sept. 30, 6 to 8 p.m., Carnegie Public Library Lecture Hall & Livestream
Read the full event description
Student Experiences
"Being a part of [this] course [...] was one of the most unique and rewarding experiences I’ve had at CMU, as I was able to engage in profound discussions with people I do not normally interact with on a daily basis — students who were ostensibly so different from myself but filled with compassion and expressed just as much enthusiasm, if not more, for psychology as I did. I found this course to be irreplaceable by any other traditional college class, providing a distraction-free learning experience where we could all come together and dive deep into the material [and] openly share our thoughts with one another [...] In short, this experience both challenged my naive assumptions surrounding people who are incarcerated and also helped shape how I think about psychology and education in general."
— Amor, Junior, Triple Major in Statistics, Psychology and Decision Science
"I cannot begin to express how much [this course] was appreciated. I always looked forward to Fridays, not only because I was getting off the housing unit and going to school, but mainly because the professor and the CMU students treated me and the other inmates like real people."
— Brandon, SCI Somerset
"This program gave me an amazing opportunity to expose myself to people with different life experiences than mine. It's not every day you get the chance to communicate across difference in this way, especially in a setting where the goal is to learn with each other. It's been an inclusive and inspiring learning experience that I'm grateful was a part of my time here."
— Camille, Junior, Double Major, Psychology and Decision Science
"The CMU Prison Education Project was one of the most influential experiences I have ever had. I have never been in a class with more engaging, perceptive and dedicated students, and this program entirely changed my relationship with education and learning. The CMU Prison Education Project is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity and I could not recommend this course more."
— Rowan, Junior, School of Drama
"All in all, I have thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience of the program. It offered an enclave of humanity and higher education within an environment that is often bereft of both. I was challenged by new perspectives, gained useful knowledge of a fascinating topic and developed an interest in further learning. The concepts and ideas sparked by the lectures, readings, discussions and in-class interactions will continue to motivate me toward positive action and success."
— Jacob, SCI Somerset
"Through the CMU Prison Education Program, I have been able to explore different perspectives that I wouldn’t otherwise find on campus. I’ve really enjoyed being able to listen and have deep conversations with people whose life experiences are vastly different from mine."
— Jennifer, Senior, Major, Computer Science
"Being a part of the [CMU Prison Education Project] in my last semester of college is a memory that will stay with me for a very long time. It’s such a unique opportunity for college students, and it has heavily changed my perception on prisons and prison systems. The inside students I spent time with were some of the most passionate students I’ve ever met, and I loved that we could learn so much from each other just by being in each other’s presence."
— Catherine, Senior, Major, Design
"The experience of watching equal numbers of CMU and Somerset Prison students get certificates for completing courses taught this semester was deeply gratifying. Our students were transformed and said so. The prison students were profoundly grateful and said so. The professors were profoundly energized and said so. I've been in higher education for 35 years, and I've never seen anything like it."
— Richard Scheines, Bess Family Dean, Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Thank You Cards
Art courtesy of SCI Somerset students
Spring 2023, "Russian History: Game of Thrones" with Prof. Wendy Goldman
Outside of card
Inside of card
Spring 2023, "Psychology, Society and the Human Brain" with Prof. Kody Manke-Miller
Fall 2023, "Major Fiction: Then and Now" with Prof. Jeffrey Williams
Illustration features clues about the novels' plots
The CMU Prison Education Project is funded through the generous support of the dean in Dietrich College, participating academic departments, and the educational labor of participating faculty.