Dear 11Th and 12Th Grade Parents

Dear 11th and 12th Grade Parents,

Over the past few years Hartsbrook has had the opportunity to visit and interview prisoners at MCI Shirley in Shirley, Massachusetts. This year the 11th and 12th grade will be visiting MCI Shirley on Wednesday November 1st. This is something that has been in the works for a several months and promises to be one of the highlights of the school year. This program is designed by the prison and gives students an opportunity to meet with inmates and ask questions about the decisions they made that ended with them being incarcerated. The meeting with prisoners fits into our work in many ways, most recently with the 11th grade Parzival block and the service-learning/seeing “the other” theme. But also with the current 12th grade Transcendentalists block of self-inquiry and investigations of truth.

We will leave on Wednesday morning at 8:00 am from school and return to school by 3pm. Students will need to bring a lunch. I will send home permission slips and a visitor dress code.

Second, students will need to bring with them a valid photo ID, a driver’s license would be best, followed by a passport and as a last resort a school ID. We had students who have forgotten their ID’s in the past and they had to sit in a waiting room for the two hours while we were talking to prisoners.

I have to emphasize that it is a safe and secure visit, but it does require strict adherence to rules and dress code.There is always a lot of lively discussion about dress codes with students in the school. Nevertheless, students will not be allowed to enter the prison if they do not strictly follow the prison guidelines with regards to dress. It is that simple. The guidelines that MCI Shirley sends are the same guidelines that families who visit relatives also receive.

To give you an idea of how the day will look:

When we arrive, the prison officials will explain the procedure for our time there and we will go through a security check (much like a rigorous airport check in). We then proceed to the visiting area where there will be approximately six to eight prisoners waiting for us as a group. The prisoners will be seated at the front of the room behind a red line. At no point will they (or we) be allowed over this red line, there will be at least 4 to 6 guards in the visitors’ room with us at all times, and we will always be together as a group. The prisoners will each tell us their story and how they came to be at MCI Shirley. Afterwards there will be a question and answer period.

The prisoners volunteer for this program and have all been thoroughly screened. Our students are never alone with prisoners and are always in the company of teachers and guards as a group during the whole time we are there. We never go beyond the visitors’ center, which is about 15 feet from the main entrance. The prison itself is about 50 yards (at least) to the east of the visitors’ center behind a series of fences and gates.

I hope this gives a fuller picture of our day at MCI Shirley. Please be in touch with me if you have any thoughts, questions or concerns.

All the best,

Thomas Heineman