“This is a Way to Give Back”: Peer Education
in South Carolina
When Oscar speaks, other inmates listen. “You are either going to lose yourself or find yourself in here. Prison can destroy you, or it can give you a chance to heal and start doing the right thing,” he explains. Dazed with fear, the newly arrived prisoners hang on Oscar’s every word. He’s a verifiably tough guy, golden teeth gleaming, with 22 years in prison behind him.
As one of four inmate peer educators specializing in sexual abuse prevention at South Carolina’s Kirkland Correctional Institution, Oscar is busy. Kirkland is the state’s reception center, meaning that all inmates pass through here before moving on to the state prison where they will be housed long-term. To keep up, the peer educators hold several classes a day — through a pioneering initiative launched by JDI and the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
The peer educators explain how to get help, what hotline numbers to dial on the prison phones, how to report sexual abuse to staff. They talk through prison policies and clarify what the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) standards say. They also venture into the murky territory of snitching, of codes of silence, of the unwritten rules that every prisoner needs to know and that only a fellow inmate can properly convey. “Many of the guys don’t understand the difference between snitching and asking for help,” says Frank, another of the peer educators. “Sexual abuse is about your health and safety, sexual abuse is personal. Asking for help is not snitching.”
At Kirkland, the peer educators have become mentors. When they walk the yard, other inmates seek them out to ask questions about PREA and about prison life. “To me, this is a way to give back, to share what I have learned, to help others avoid what I’ve been through,” says Oscar. Perez, also a peer educator, agrees. “I’m still young so many of the younger inmates can relate to me, and I’m bilingual, so I can help people who only speak Spanish.”
Frank has spent 13 years in prison, years that have seen plenty of pain and loss. “I’m doing this work to make up for not being able to be there for my son when he grew up. He was only nine when I was locked up. As prisoners, we have hurt ourselves so much, and we have hurt others. We have hurt our families and communities. For me, doing this work is a way to deal with the pain.”
For the rest of the country, they have a message. “Sexual abuse is not cool, it’s not right. Everyone needs this knowledge and every prison should have peer educators to talk to other prisoners about PREA and sexual abuse.”
In 2009, JDI launched the first-ever inmate peer education program in two California prisons. Peer education is now recognized as one of the effective ways to teach prisoners about their rights.
"Sexual abuse is not cool, it’s not right. Everyone needs this knowledge and every prison should have peer educators to talk to other prisoners about PREA and sexual abuse.”