According to the Prison Studies Project, which began at Harvard University in 2008, studies conducted over the last two decades almost unanimously indicate that higher education in prison programs reduces recidivism and translates into reductions in crime, savings to taxpayers and long-term contributions to the safety and wellbeing of the communities to which formerly incarcerated people return.  Our Del Norte faculty and staff are working hard to make a difference in the lives of incarcerated people by bringing our curriclum to the prisoners in Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP).

Assistant Professor Christopher Callahan taught a Biology of Marine Mammals class last year at PBSP to great success.  In addition to the students learning about marine mammals, the class gave Christopher and opportunity to better understand how he could teach biology with a lab in the prison environment. 

Using the current Course Outline of Record (COR), and his assessment of the class, Christopher developed a general biology (Biology 1) with a lab for the tightly controlled environment. With this course, students will be allowed to use microscopes and other lab equipment during the labs.  The course will be offered fall 2018 for the first time and will be the model for how biology is taught at other prisons throughout the state. 

Assistant Professor Callahan will present his prison teaching experiences next year at the 100^th annual conference of the American Society of Mammologists at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. 

Here are a few photos of the class:

Photo 1:  Students examining whale baleen and krill, the food some whales eat.

Photos 2 & 3:  Students identifying bones from a dolphin.

Photo 4:  Group photo.

We are very fortunate to have Christopher as a colleague!