From reporter to teacher: Helping prisoners find their voice
It is a Monday at Everglades Correctional Institution (ECI), a place few outsiders want to – or ever will – visit.
Incarcerated men line up for a head count against the Brutalist beige backdrop of the state prison west of Miami, not far from the glowing neon of the Miccosukee Tribe casino.
Grackles flit and chatter beyond the razor-wire fences. Some of the almost 1,800 people housed here trudge along, staying between red lines painted along sidewalks that cross meticulously manicured lawns.
Inside the prison library on a December morning, the mood is ebullient. There is not a computer screen in sight. Nor a typewriter.
Pens and paper, however, swish on cafeteria tables as about two dozen writers try out for a special event: the graduation ceremony for Exchange for Change, a Miami-based nonprofit that brings writing classes into
