Programming and Influence

Solomon Brown, the chairman of BANTU’s board of directors, developed a remedial learning program as a counter to the poorly upkept prison school. He used his understanding of his fellow prisoners to develop a practical curriculum, given particular consideration to many of the men’s negative experiences with schooling. This curriculum was supported by the Phillips Brooks House at Harvard, which provided necessary resources, such as books, paper, chalk, and maps. In turn, some individual observers provided typewriters, adding machines, curtains, microscopes, and chairs. Brown’s program provided the foundation for education at Walpole and made it possible for the men to engage in a college-preparatory course that Curry College set up. Reflecting upon these programs, Robert Delello said:

When I was in Walpole, I got my college degree. You can’t do that in Walpole anymore. But for most of us who were capable of earning a college degree, we were going to have a better chance at success. Most of the prisoners, they needed elementary education. That is the first step to giving a guy a chance to succeed. (Bissonette 143)

The observer reports highlight the work BANTU did toward education and rehabilitation and mark the effects of this work on the prisoner population.