Whitman at the Penitentiary Educates Through Shared Experiences
In this unique program, students explore complex life questions while learning alongside incarcerated classmates
By Heidi Pitts ’01

Building bridges. Mitch Clearfield, Director of Whitman at the Penitentiary and Senior Lecturer of Philosophy and General Studies (standing), began teaching classes inside the Washington State Penitentiary in 2019.
At Whitman College, education extends far beyond the classroom to engage with real life and everyday questions. Through the Whitman at the Penitentiary program, students can take their learning off campus, walking through prison gates to learn alongside incarcerated classmates at the Washington State Penitentiary (WSP).
Mitch Clearfield, Senior Lecturer of Philosophy and General Studies, directs the Whitman at the Penitentiary program and has been teaching at WSP since 2019. His Spring 2025 class, Forgiveness and Repair (PHIL-220), helped students connect academic questions about ethics to a widely diverse set of real-world experiences.
“Whitman at the Penitentiary classes are some of the most impactful things you can do at Whitman,” says Morgan Sherwood ’25, a Biology-Environmental Studies major and Teaching Assistant for the course. “It’s learning and community-building all at once.”
A Class Like & Unlike Any Other
A group of Whitman students walks on a sunny path, chatting about course registration, Taylor Swift lyrics and a recent soccer match. But instead of crossing the green grass of Ankeny Field, they pass next to barbed wire fences and through checkpoints as they make their way to WSP’s South Complex Education Building.
Once inside, it’s class as usual: a syllabus, books full of highlights and margin notes, discussion guides and groups brainstorming about final projects. “This class is a chance to feel normal,” says Rony.* “I’m a Whitman student just like the outside Whitman students. When I’m here, I feel less isolated from society.”

Unexpected harmony. Laughter fills the room when, in the middle of a discussion, the class spontaneously begins singing “Happy Birthday” to Lu Austin ’27.
The equitable atmosphere is intentional. Clearfield designed the class format with the expectation that students would engage as peers, learning with and from each other without judgment. Analysis of texts such as Simon Wiesenthal’s “The Sunflower,” a narrative exploring the possibility and limits of forgiveness of genocide, provide structure for discussions of sometimes deeply personal and emotional topics.
Building a Community of Trust
In their first class session, students participated in carefully designed icebreaker activities to help them get to know each other and build trust. In their discussion groups (each composed of two inside students and two outside students), they proactively set boundaries about what they would and would not discuss. Rony and groupmate Layla Hidalgo ’28 credit the process of developing communal expectations with setting the tone for complicated discussions.
“The class atmosphere of openness feels very valuable,” says Hidalgo. “You know people are coming from radically different backgrounds, so you expect to hear different opinions, and there’s no pressure to have to agree on anything. That makes it easy to express yourself.”
Sherwood sees the resulting relationships as an extension of her Whitman experience. “I picked Whitman for its sense of community,” she says. “I’ve really found that on campus, and now building it at the penitentiary has been really, really impactful to me.” Returning to Whitman at the Penitentiary as a Teaching Assistant is her way of paying it forward for all the gifts and experiences she had as a student in the Fall 2023 Restorative Justice (PHIL-218) class.

It takes a team. From left, Biology major Mina Olson ’25, Layla Hidalgo ’28 and WSP student Rony discuss ideas for a final project focusing on forgiveness in families.
The Right Location for Learning
Whitman’s home in Walla Walla makes the Whitman at the Penitentiary program possible. But for many Whitman students and local residents, WSP can easily remain a remote part of the landscape.
“I always saw the penitentiary as this bright orange glow in the sky at night,” says Mateo Car ’28, who grew up in Walla Walla. “You can see it from almost any part of town, and even though I have friends whose parents work there, I didn’t know what it was like inside.”
Marika Cartier ’26, a Biology major, didn’t know WSP was in Walla Walla until a few weeks after Move-In Day, but she was immediately intrigued. “When I heard there was an option to go and take classes with the incarcerated students, I thought it would be a good chance for me to grow personally by interacting with people of different backgrounds.”
Car values how Whitman at the Penitentiary transforms WSP from an inaccessible landmark to a real part of his everyday life and enjoys sharing his newfound understanding with his friends at other colleges. “They’re really jealous,” he says laughing, noting that they wish they could take the class too.
Fast Facts About the Washington State Penitentiary
- Overview: One of the oldest and largest prisons in Washington, in operation since 1886
- Residents: Around 2,000 incarcerated individuals
- Staff: Over 1,100 employees
- Location: 1313 N. 13th Ave., just north of downtown Walla Walla
- Facilities: A mix of minimum to maximum security units
A Transformational Experience
One of the most powerful parts of Whitman at the Penitentiary is how it challenges and changes perspectives—on prisons, on justice and on community.
Car, who works part-time for a Walla Walla law firm, told his boss after the first day of class that they should try to help the incarcerated students get out. “There’s this movement that happens a lot outside of prison that says that locking people up is not the answer, and I definitely support that,” he says.
But getting to know the inside students over the past several months has added nuance to Car’s position. “I heard them saying that being in the penitentiary had helped them change and grow and become better people. It challenged my perspective to consider if there could potentially be positive outcomes of incarceration.”
Preparing for a career as a criminal defense lawyer, Car still hopes to help reduce incarceration rates, but his interests have expanded to include advocating for correctional practices that emphasize rehabilitation and support community re-entry.
Opening the Doors to Hope
Attending an end-of-semester showcase, where students present their final projects to an invited guest audience, can be an eye-opening experience for people who aren’t part of the program.
Cartier first visited the penitentiary as a friend’s guest for a Restorative Justice showcase and admits she was nervous. “Prisons aren’t shown very positively in movies,” she says. “But it was nothing like I expected. Meeting people at the showcase and having that experience before my class started helped me feel better prepared.”
This spring Cartier and her discussion group welcomed their own guests to the showcase. Their final project—based on the Japanese art of kintsugi, which uses gold to glue together broken pottery—focused on themes of hope and repair, highlighting the resilience and beauty that can be found through healing.

Putting it all together. As part of their final showcase materials, each group creates poster board presentations, which often include detailed artwork from the inside students.
Building Skills for the Real World
At a table in the front corner of the classroom, Sociology major and transfer student Lu Austin ’27, Economics-Mathematics major Abd Alghani Rahmoun ’27, Will* and Ricci* work through project ideas. When Ricci hesitates about the direction of the presentation concept, vital interpersonal skills are put to work—the group listens carefully, brainstorms together and encourages one another as they work toward consensus.
Will, who has taken three Whitman at the Penitentiary classes and served as a Teaching Assistant for a fourth, feels a strong sense of responsibility not just for his own education but for that of other students as well. “Whitman students are voters and future leaders who may influence the Department of Corrections and the justice system,” he says. “I want to make sure they have a real, personal understanding of this system and the people in it.”
The experience of learning at WSP will stay with students long after the final class. “I think taking a class at the penitentiary should be a requirement for everyone,” Car says. “It’s vital for a liberal arts education to engage these different realities firsthand.”
What They’re Studying
PHIL-220: Forgiveness and Repair
Forgiveness is a familiar concept—but it can be far more complex than it appears. This course explores questions about genuine forgiveness, its limits, and how (or whether) damaged relationships can be repaired.
Whitman at the Penitentiary courses cover a range of disciplines, including offerings like:
- ARTS-201: Comics and Storytelling Studio
- ENGL-200-B: Being Human: Literature and the Human Being
- IRES-215: Dialogue, Difference and Social Justice
- PHIL-218: Restorative Justice
- PHIL-219: Case Studies in Applied Ethics
- PHIL-221: The Meaning of Life
- SOC-260: Criminological Theory
Learning That Lasts
In Forgiveness and Repair, class closes each week with circle time. Students push tables back against the walls and pull their chairs together for personal and communal reflection.
“What’s one change you’ve seen in yourself or others?” Clearfield asks.
The answers vary. Some students say they are more forgiving; others think they are less so. One student details a struggle to reconcile new concepts about the power of forgiveness that he’s found in the texts with a worldview that sees it as weakness.
Cartier sums it up with a smile. “I’m very grateful for the opportunity to be able to learn inside the penitentiary. It’s a privilege to see this part of the incarcerated students’ lives and hear their stories,” she says. “And as I share my story too, we see how we are similar and how we are different and how that’s OK. And gaining that understanding, we are all growing.”
*Class participants who are incarcerated at Washington State Penitentiary are identified by their first names only.