St. John's News

In an effort to improve the educational programming available to inmates at the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility on Staten Island, St. John’s criminal justice professor Ellen Boegel Esq. teamed up with the correctional facility to implement a series of debates between St. John’s criminal justice students and debaters from the medium security prison. Professor Boegel saw the debates as an opportunity to create a cross-disciplinary Academic Service-Learning project, exposing her students to a marginalized portion of the legal studies and criminal justice systems. Professor Boegel along with St. John’s criminal justice professors Ralph Porzio and Angelo Pisani, Ph.D. were awarded a mini-grant by the Office of Academic Service-Learning in the spring of 2008. Grant monies are funding five separate debates, one which has already happened and the rest which take place over the course of the fall 2008 semester.

On June 23, 2008, four student volunteers from the Staten Island campus participated in the first formal debate against the inmate team, “The debate was an eye opening experience!  It gave us an opportunity to interact with a part of society which is shunned from the world.  I was really impressed by the articulate and passionate nature of their positions,” noted Savreen Singh a graduate student in the criminal justice program.

Kevin James, an undergraduate sophomore and government and politics major; Sheku Mansaray, an undergraduate sophomore and legal studies major; and Crystal Vera, a graduate student in the social justice and global development program also represented St. John’s during the debate.

The resolve for the debate was whether juvenile offenders should be tried as adults. The student team was responsible for upholding the affirmative, while the inmate team defended the negative. In the end, the negative triumphed.  Three panel judges, provided by the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility, unanimously voted in favor of the inmates.  The St. John’s team congratulated the winning team with a standing ovation and friendly handshakes.

While leaving the correctional facility with the student team, Professor Boegel took one last look at the facility.  She watched as St. John’s Professor and Superintendent of Arthur Kill Correctional Facility, Dennis Breslin, shook hands with the inmate team. It was clear that the inmates as well as the students had benefited from this new service experience. 

If you would like more information about this service program and other Academic Service-Learning initiatives, please contact the Office of Academic Service-Learning, Staten Island Campus at (718) 390-4119.