RLST181 PO - Prison, Punishment, Redemption (CP)

When Offered: Each fall.
Instructor(s): E. Runions
Credit: 1

This course will explore ideologies of punishment and redemption in relation to the prison industrial complex. We will critique and redefine themes of redemption, correction, debt, virtue, shame, guilt, purity, atonement, damnation, hell and conversion as they influence, infuse and complicate popular understanding of prison, policy development and lived experience of prison. We will be analyzing religious teaching, literature, media, pop culture, policy, political discourse and art. The approach taken will be interdisciplinary with intersectional analysis that includes race, gender, sexuality, ability, class, age, mobility, literacy, education, nationality. Six times in the semester students will take part in a writing workshop in the prison California Institute for Women. Letter grade only.

Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
Area 3; Analyzing Difference