The Department of Philosophy is proud to announce that our prison-based learning community—Philosophy for Humans (P4H)—has been recognized as a Program of Excellence in Engaged Scholarship. Philosophy for Humans is a collection of Ohio State faculty, staff, and students and people incarcerated at the Southeastern Correctional Institution (SCI) near Lancaster, Ohio dedicated to building opportunities for transformative education that renders prisons obsolete. Ohio State’s Office of Outreach and Engagement certifies programs of excellence after a rigorous review process.
P4H was recognized for its robust reciprocity with community partners. P4H is co-designed and co-delivered with incarcerated and campus learners, and in partnership with the Ohio Prison Education Exchange Project (OPEEP). Members co-create norms for how they will engage with each other. Community leadership roles like meeting facilitator and designer of co-learning activities are rotated regularly among P4H members. OPEEP-trained instructors who are members or one-time visitors benefit from P4H community expertise about prison learning contexts, while incarcerated and campus learners gain access to structured philosophical inquiry, critical thinking tools, and pathways for practicing leadership for prison abolition. On the P4H model, reciprocity is not transactional; it is embedded through shared design, shared implementation, and shared ownership of outcomes.
P4H was recognized for how it improves community conditions and addresses challenges identified by community members. P4H members identified challenges like limited access to informative and enriching discourse and limited ability to take on leadership roles within the carceral context. Members also identified the dehumanization of incarcerated people as an obstacle to transformative justice. P4H addresses these challenges by offering regular, affirming gatherings that feature rigorous academic discussion, leadership development opportunities, and the production of shareable materials like a ‘zine.
P4H was recognized for how it increases the capacity of individuals and organizations in the community to act and advocate to meet the community’s needs. An incarcerated member brought for workshop at a community meeting an idea for a youth development program that aims to address harm and accountability. Members have also taken leadership roles in their next ventures. For example, after two years of experience in P4H, members launched a learning community at another correctional institution in Ohio. Members have gone on to law school to become a public defender, graduate program in psychology to treat incarcerated people, a graduate program in biomimicry to see underappreciated dehumanizing features of prisons, and professional work in community development. P4H thus develops leadership dispositions (of empathy, rigor, accountability) and durable skills (such as facilitation and group management) that transfer to roles in public service, nonprofit management, education, and research.
Amy Shuster, a co-convenor of P4H along with Alia Dietsch of SENR, reflected: “This recognition is especially meaningful to us. It recognizes features of our collective work that are most important to us, and it helps us see how our work is connected to the broader scholarly community at Ohio State.”