Over Winter Break, four members of the sophomore class were hired as grant application and research interns for Project READ, a non-profit project spearheaded by Hamilton alumna Christina Plakas ’19. Project READ seeks to “empower incarcerated individuals to pursue avenues of self-healing, legal action, and activism, as a response to their incarceration.” This project contributes to the welfare of incarcerated people by setting up book clubs in correctional facilities.

Stella O’Brien

: Can you tell me a bit about your experience at Hamilton College?

Christina Plaka

s: I’m from New York City and came to Hamilton to pursue a degree in sociology with a minor in Hispanic studies. I was always interested in criminology and criminal justice, and Hamilton reinforced my belief that this was what I want to further pursue.

S.O

: How did you realize you were passionate about criminal justice?

C.P

: During my study abroad in Madrid, I was working in a hospital and treating patients that had no visitors. Many of these patients were incarcerated people, and they often sought out reading materials and things to do to keep busy. This made me think about the relationship between incarceration and the impact of literature and reading on detainees.

S.O

: How did you follow this passion after graduating from Hamilton?

C.P:

I graduated in 2019 and spent a year working as a wrongful convictions paralegal, in constant contact with many incarcerated individuals. Later, I transferred to Rikers Island Prison, where I worked in the law library. So many men there would come in and ask if there were books to read for fun or pleasure. Unfortunately, I had to tell them no. It was just like working at the hospital again — it underscored a huge lack of access to literature and humanity for detainees.

S.O:

What was your experience working at Rikers Island like?

C.P:

The environment was chaotic, and there were constantly alarms going off and things happening; it wasn’t a place of peace or stability at all. In spite of that, though, I learned a lot and developed meaningful relationships that serve as the foundation for the majority of the work I do now. It was at that point that I learned firsthand how poor the conditions for prisoners really are.

S.O:

Can you tell me about the people you met there?

C.P:

There was a detainee who was also working in the law library as a clerk and would talk to me about books. He gifted me his personal copy of a book called

Peace Behind the Wire: A Nonviolent Revolution

. I was really grateful for the interaction and gifted him

The New Jim Crow

in return. He told me he wished his friends in Rikers could read that book too, and I realized that I wanted to do more for this cause. At that point, I decided to go to graduate school and pursue a Ph.D. program in criminology and criminal justice.

S.O:

What was the research question you initially wanted to investigate, and where did that research take you?

C.P:

After all the things I had learned, I wanted to dig into the positive impacts of book clubs and access to literature for detained people. I found that book clubs are the intersection of education, community, confidence, and are a positive outlet. A book club can become an environment like group therapy — there is open communication, a discussion of opinions and beliefs, and people can use these books as a stage to bring about deeply personal conversations. Because there are so few examples, most of my work was theoretical and now I’m trying to bring this research to life.

S.O:

Is there anything that you discovered when conducting your research that shocked you?

C.P:

A lot of educational programs in prisons bar inmates with life sentences or long sentences from participating, which I was very taken aback by. Outside of these programs, at least at Rikers, there’s no access to computers for inmates, and all their motions or written work is done through typewriters. So, without physical copies of books, the opportunity to further one’s education or even just interact with literature becomes near impossible.

S.O

: Are you still in touch with the detained clerk who gifted you

Peace Behind the Wire

?

C.P:

Yes. His name is Tyjuan Cassidy, and he’s the co-founder of the non-profit Project READ, the mastermind of this project and my guide on what direction we can take our work in to be most helpful to those directly impacted. He has been instrumental in the process of this non-profit because he knows best what is needed. His feedback and partnership are at the center of this project.

S.O:

Can you tell me a bit about him?

C.P:

He’s from Brooklyn, New York, and has been a huge inspiration for this project and a close collaborator. He entered the carceral justice system at the juvenile age of 14 after getting caught up in gang-related activity. The focus of his social life and close group of friends became criminal activity, and so he sees it vital to capture youth before they enter the justice system as well as improving conditions for those whose lives are touched by it already. At 39, he’s now serving an eight-year sentence for shooting a man in self-defense. Cassidy has two sons, a stepson, two nephews and a grandson and a huge emphasis on youth outreach.

S.O:

What is the vision you share for this project?

C.P:

Short term, I want to run book drives and provide any access to literature that I can. Eventually, I want to collect multiple copies of the same book, so detainees can read along together and discuss the books as a group. That’s why I think colleges are a great place to partner with, because often an entire classroom will order multiple copies of the same book — donating them would be a great way to offer it a second life.

S.O:

What would be the long-term vision?

C.P:

I want to also provide resource guides along with the literature that would be for fun or pleasure, such as pamphlets and instructional books about mental health, writing, resume building and other practical skills. Eventually, it’s Cassidy’s vision that this project becomes community-based and builds into a mentorship program to reach young people before they interact with the carceral justice system.

S.O:

Has Cassidy expressed why this project is so meaningful to him?

C.P:

Cassidy said that “by creating this non-profit, I am aiming to affect any change that will help young minorities who have similar experiences as I have. Starting within the Black community, and beyond, it is my vision to prevent lives from being lost to the streets, by death or through the legal system. The plan is to work closely with law enforcement, politicians, criminal justice professionals, families of victims, my peers and youth to create programs and processes that will improve their social outcome.”