In late March, the Princeton Teaching Initiative (PTI) hosted a pedagogy workshop, “Teaching with Primary Sources: An Immersive Roadmap for Higher Ed in Prison.” This workshop was developed by Charissa Jefferson of the Industrial Relations Section (IRS) and funded by a Flash Grant  from the Council of the Humanities The workshop explored resources and research on prisons and the criminal justice system, including archival materials and digital tools from the Princeton Library, and focused on integrating this understanding into teaching.

Jefferson is the Labor Economics Librarian and the curator of the IRS’s exhibitions. She presented a physical, digital, and interactive collection from the 1915-1940 IRS Prison Collection. One of the topics Jefferson highlighted in her presentation covered the cost of food for the incarcerated. The free food available to inmates is often subpar, leading many to rely on the commissary, which significantly marks up its prices. Inmates with jobs, such as working in call centers for large corporations like Amazon, earn around $1 daily. Both the corporations and the prison system profit from this labor.

Open to graduate students and professionals, many of whom volunteer for the PRI, the workshop aimed to help participants understand the many primary resources available as information sources. The workshop featured a hands-on collection for participants inspired by the 2023 Noteworthy book Orange Collar Labor by Michael Gibson-Light, who attended and delivered the keynote address.

Gibson-Light and IRS student Jing Wu shared insights from their research on prison labor systems and criminal justice economics during their respective presentations. Further highlighting different information sources available, Wu contributed research based on data, while Gibson provided insights from an ethnographic study.

Reflecting on the workshop, Wu noted, "The workshop was incredibly engaging. Exploring the resources on prisons at the Princeton Library was particularly memorable, and Michael's talk on the prison labor system was both fascinating and insightful. We discovered that we have very similar research interests and plan to keep in touch."