Projecting Law

The Projecting Law Project at UB Law School has undertaken a year long project that takes a small group of first year law students out to Attica 6 times to meet with inmates doing long sentences over the course of the 2007-08 academic year. The students (as well as correctional officers, prison administrators and civilian staff) are interviewed ( on videotape) about their insights into the criminal punishment system. The three themes of the series are: (1) why is the conversation so difficult to have (in other words, why is it so unusual for prison inmates (who have experienced the justice system firsthand) and law students (who are studying the justice system and training for careers in law) to have an extended discussion? (2) how might the views of the one group change or influence the views of the other group (and vice versa) over the course of the year? and (3) what are the costs of the current “lock them up and throw away the key” philosophy of the criminal justice system?

Because the opportunity for face-to-face encounters with the prisoners are limited, the law school group communicates with them via a protected discussion board, as well as this blog site. So the discussion continues outside the visits themselves. The content of these discussions is included in the footage that will eventually be edited into a full-length documentary.