RLST181 PO

This course will explore ideologies of punishment and redemption in relation to the prison industrial complex. We will critique and redefine themes of redemption, correction, debt, virtue, shame, guilt, purity, atonement, damnation, hell and conversion as they influence, infuse and complicate popular understanding of prison, policy development and lived experience of prison. We will be analyzing religious teaching, literature, media, pop culture, policy, political discourse and art. The approach taken will be interdisciplinary with intersectional analysis that includes race, gender, sexuality, ability, class, age, mobility, literacy, education, nationality. This course has six visits to California Institute for Women (prison). Letter grade only. Previously offered as GWS 181 PO.