Humans of Chaffey: Jessica Moronez - Changing the Lives of Incarcerated People
by Miranda Morgan
In the learning facilities of the California Institute for Men, Dr. Jessica Moronez – a Rising Scholars professor of sociology – found her Sociology course to be having a greater effect on her students than she could have ever imagined.
Her students – men who are presently incarcerated – were learning about various sociological theories. While just another day of lessons for Moronez, the messages were hitting home for one of her students.
She recalled his admittance of intimidation by her. His entire life, he had been placed in special education classes, passed through the system without any care or consideration. As a result, he had self-described issues with writing and comprehension. Reflecting on the hardships of the student, Moronez saw it as an opportunity to challenge these notions.
“We had just gone over three sociological theories. I asked him which was his favorite and why,” Moronez stated. “He was able to articulate everything we had just learned and applied it to his own social conditions and being in prison. I reassured him that he was going to do just fine in the course.”
Educational histories such as this student’s are unfortunately common amongst folks who face incarceration. Many people in the system have suffered because of the school-to-prison pipeline, where unfair practices in the school system push youth towards the criminal justice system rather than towards higher education.
“A lot of these men were systematically denied education… from things as simple as school’s not offering AP courses to unfair tracking that put them in certain classes that would only let them get so far in education,” Moronez stated.
According to the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, “More than 60 percent of all people in prisons are functionally illiterate, and over 70% of people in America's prisons cannot read above a fourth-grade level.” To combat these statistics, many prisons are implementing programs aimed at increasing education levels, hoping that recidivism rates will drop in correspondence.
Here in the Inland Empire, this is being put into practice through Chaffey College’s Rising Scholars program. The program itself is charged on by a variety of faculty who teach a wide array of subjects at the California Institution for Men (CIM) – a low-level local incarceration facility in Chino, Calif. People in the institution have the opportunity to gain associate’s degrees in various majors such as Journalism, Communication and Sociology. Among these faculty members is Jessica Moronez, a professor of sociology and social justice studies, at both the CIM and the neighboring women’s institution, CIW.
Through Moronez’s work in the program, she is not only combating the effects of the school-to-prison pipeline but changing lives. In a community where many have been systemically denied education, bringing education back in an effective way is carrying real weight.
Moronez’s passion for sociology and working with incarcerated folks did not just begin with her employment at Chaffey, but was rather the result of her own educational journey. Starting as a child development major at Cal Poly Pomona, she took one sociology class, and that changed everything.
“I took my first sociology class and I was hooked. So, I majored in sociology and minored in women’s studies,” she said.
When asked about why the course had such a profound impact on her, she explained, “It was learning about inequalities, whether that’s racial, gender or sexual orientations and identities. All these types of things were like lightbulbs for me in terms of why the world works the way it does.”
She continued on with her education, receiving her master’s degree from Cal State Fullerton, which has its own prison education programs. She has also received her PhD in Sociology from University of California Riverside.
Her interest in becoming an educator grew from there and led her to teaching at College of the Desert, on track for becoming tenured. However, when an opportunity came up to join the Rising Scholars program at Chaffey College, she jumped on the opportunity to return to teaching in a space she cherished, with folks who are incarcerated.
For Moronez, the experience has been rewarding. From the very beginning, her students at the institution have made it clear the respect and appreciation they have for their educational opportunities and for her presence.
She recalled a moment that reassured that appreciation in one of her first days at the institution.
“There was a student who came up to me and said, ‘I just want to let you know if there’s anything that goes on in the yard, I have your back.’ He turned to another student behind him and asked, ‘We have her back, don’t we?’” she stated. “They both said, ‘You’re safe with us.’ That was all I needed to be comfortable in the space. The students are protective.”
In her years with the program, she has witnessed the incredible growth and transformations of confidence that education can bring, especially to folks in such underserved communities.
She reflected on the experiences she has heard first-hand: “A lot of my students come from low income households, or single mother households. From a sociological view, you see those patterns mixed with low education, and it’s not a good mix. Coupled with issues like racism or gender inequality, it leads to paths of trouble unfortunately.”
Luckily, the Rising Scholars program is not only working to reverse the educational traumas of the folks in the system, but to alleviate some of the intersectionalities of the system as well. Moronez has found that the program has had profound impacts on the culture inside the institution.
Most of her students take four courses to qualify as a full-time student, which is in addition to their 40-hour work weeks and social activity time. However, they stay dedicated, many of the men using up their weekends to complete homework. While these time constraints are a rough aspect of the prison educational journey, it also comes with some benefits.
Moronez stated: “It actually creates safer yards. They’re less likely to get caught up in whatever may be happening there because they’re like, ‘I need to study, I have something I’m dedicated
to.’ So it really helps this subsection of people to stop being involved in whatever politics or issues may be happening on the yard.”
Studies show that when folks who are incarcerated are given access to education, the benefits are not only seen inside the prison walls. In addition, the likelihood of recidivism goes down. Vocational programs can drop the rates down to 30%. Associate’s degree programs can drop that rate to 15%. Bachelor’s programs can drop it down to as low as 5%.
The impacts are not only seen with the individuals, however: the families who await on the outside are finding positive results as well.
She described one of the most rewarding moments she gets to experience every year: the student’s graduations and seeing how much their confidence has grown.
“That’s another feeling that is just so indescribable. You see how proud this graduate is, but also in their family, and the fact that they made it there for their graduation. It helps to provide a reason for the families to come down, and for bonding to occur again. Education sparked that for them.”
Education is not just education, but a tool that permeates every aspect of daily life. Many of the men in this program will eventually be released, and will have to face day-to-day life that they may not have experienced in years, if not decades. To be able to take what they have learned on the inside out into the public sector is a crucial step to combating recidivism.
“Education is transformative, it changes lives. Many times there are these negative portrayals of incarcerated folks, ‘You do the crime, you do the time. End of story,’ which has resulted in many folks that don’t agree with education programs in prisons,” she explained, citing a common talking point that incarcerated folks do not deserve educational opportunities.
“There’s an expectation that the incarcerated need to repent, and there is absolutely the victim component. People want to feel justice, which is totally understandable. We do also, though, need to think about if we truly are focused on recidivism, we need to give folks, in my opinion as an educator, education primarily.”
It’s all about reinstalling a sense of humanity that prison does not provide on its own. A sense of humanity that will aid them in their journeys of growth and on their journeys back into the public sector. So what is the best way to achieve this, according to Moronez?
“Being in a classroom.”