62 | Finding Hope in Education | A Conversation on prison education, equitable access and restorative justice with Michelle Clifton of Lewis University

Michelle Clifton earned her PhD in social ethics at Loyola University Chicago and has worked in higher education for twenty years. Michelle’s passion is interrupting the US’s over-reliance on incarceration, finding creative alternatives, such as equitable and accessible education or restorative justice solutions, through collaboration with those most impacted. In 2018, she founded the “School of Restorative Arts,” an MA program in Illinois’ prisons serving over 100 incarcerated men and women at Stateville and Logan Correctional Centers. She currently serves as founding director of prison education at Lewis University launching BA programs in professional studies in Illinois prisons.

In this episode, Michelle shares how she felt the first time she entered a prison classroom, how she processes the hard stories she experiences, and the moment she knew this would be her life’s work. Hear her describe the joy of a graduation ceremony inside a prison, why she calls herself an abolitionist, and the dream she has to see decarceration and liberation in the state of Illinois. 

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