A Day in the Life

A Day in the Life shares stories from faculty, students, and APEP Student Assistants. These stories aim to give insight into APEP: how it works, and how it impacts participants.

Graduate: Jorge Herrejon

1. Where are you from? I am from Chicago, IL (from the Pilsen neighborhood).

2. What is your favorite field of study/topic? My favorite topic is the study of mythology because it forces me to see the world through a different point of view, and it helps me understand the hopes, fears, and stories of people who were trying to make sense of the world around them.

3. What is something you would like people to know about you as a student? As a student, I try to learn as much as I can to best help and teach those around me – I see my education as a privilege that should extend back to those who have not had the chance to learn what I’ve learned. I serve as a link that seeks to uplift those around me.

4. What does it mean to you to be a part of APEP? Being a part of APEP has meant the fulfillment of my family’s hopes and dreams – it has meant the validation and reward for all their hard work and continual faith in me. To be a part of APEP has also meant that I can push back against the stigmas, labels, and stereotypes that are placed over all incarcerated people.

5. What course has had the biggest impact on you and why? The biggest impact to my life has come from my English 201 Tutoring class. I was reluctant to become a tutor at first because I didn’t feel equipped to be a tutor, but then I realized my fellow colleagues needed help. I identified with them, and shared in their desire for personal transformation and improvement. I learned as much as I could to position myself to help them because when they succeed, I succeed.

6. What is your favorite book or article that you have read in your APEP classes? My favorite book to read was Gregory Boyle’s Tattoos on the Heart. My former lifestyle, as a 17-year-old kid, resembled the lifestyle of the youths that Father Boyle tried to help. Seeing beyond drug addiction, gang violence, and convictions for committing criminal acts, Father Boyle reached out to a group of people – who were much like myself – when no one else seemed to do so. He believes in the people he helps even when society does not, and that is why Tattoos on the Heart is my favorite book.

7. What assignment (paper, project, homework) have you found the most rewarding? After suffering a crippling incident that rendered me bedridden while in prison, I completed my FYI research paper that looked into long-term sentences and their impact on reducing crime rates. While confined to a bed with a fractured bone, I read and sourced information that revealed how low the impact is when punishments for criminal acts are harsh and long. To learn that 80 billion dollars are spent over the whole prison complex (including trials, sentencing, and post-incarceration expenses) per year was shocking—especially when you factor in that it has not reduced crime by much since the War on Drugs era.

8. Anything else you would like to add? When I consider that any American, at any given time, has a 1 in 3 chance of knowing someone who is incarcerated, I think about how this is impacting entire families, societies, and our treatment of one another. The education that APEP brings, and the humanity and dignity that its faculty has reintroduced into our lives, is fundamental for the personal transformation of incarcerated individuals. Secondary education challenges misconceptions, our preconceived assumptions, and our fixed mentality which all too often can prove detrimental to understanding others and the world around us. Providing secondary education to incarcerated people is not just an investment in that one person’s life—it is an investment in the family unity they belong to. It is an investment in the generational well-being of societies all over the country. Good education, accompanied by good educators, is our best hope for widespread transformation and societal improvement when it comes to the incarcerated individual. Please, help fan the flame of personal rebirth.