{"id":33441,"date":"2017-05-15T17:58:01","date_gmt":"2017-05-15T21:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=33441"},"modified":"2017-05-31T16:15:38","modified_gmt":"2017-05-31T20:15:38","slug":"first-masters-restorative-justice-graduate-builds-past-share-vision-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/first-masters-restorative-justice-graduate-builds-past-share-vision-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"First master\u2019s in restorative justice graduate builds on past to share his vision of justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/strong>When Gregory Winship begins teaching a new course of conflict transformation training at a minimum-security prison in Missouri, he waits until the second session to share his past.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first week, they\u2019re telling me about how bad life is in prison and all the things they wish could be changed and all the hurt and harm that\u2019s been done to them,\u201d says Winship, who works for the Center for Conflict Resolution<\/a> in Kansas City, Missouri.<\/p>\n

During the second session, he shares an optical illusion. Some participants see a frog, others a horse.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Gregory Winship at Commencement 2017 with professors Howard Zehr (left) and Carl Stauffer, co-directors of the Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice at EMU. (Photo by Joaquin Sosa)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Winship then tells them that he was once sitting where they are sitting, \u201cand even though I am now the one facilitating the class, I understand where they\u2019re coming from.\u201d<\/p>\n

The atmosphere changes, he says. The space is suddenly shared. He is not only a teacher but a companion. Those who see a frog now see a horse, and those who see a horse now see a frog. His lesson goal\u2014\u201cto help them see and perceive differently\u201d \u2014 is fulfilled in a heartbeat.<\/p>\n

Winship is the most credible of \u201ccredible messengers\u201d \u2014 someone who has done wrong, harmed others, learned, grown, changed and determined that his life, and his unexpected freedom, is only worth something if he devotes it to helping others. He works to help those on the inside and the outside transform their own perceptions of justice and form right relationships.<\/p>\n

To that indelible credibility, add this: Winship is the first graduate of Eastern Mennonite University\u2019s MA in restorative justice<\/a> program. The program of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding<\/a> is the first of its kind in North America.<\/p>\n

In Winship\u2019s work and his research, he has begun to propose incremental but ground-breaking integration of restorative, rather than retributive, principles into the prison culture.<\/p>\n

Howard Zehr<\/a>, distinguished professor of restorative justice at EMU, became a mentor to Winship during his studies at EMU.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have come to have great respect for his reflective, inquiring mind; his integrity; and his commitment to using his experience and gifts to make the world better,\u201d Zehr said. \u201cHe is uniquely equipped and highly motivated to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winship first read Zehr’s seminal Little Book of Restorative Justice<\/em><\/a> while in prison; fourteen years later, on April 30, he sat among other graduates, listening to Zehr give the EMU commencement address<\/a>. For both men, the moment was transcendent: Zehr, a seminal figure in the field of restorative justice, commended Winship, the first graduate in the university’s program \u2013<\/span> and fittingly, a man who embodies its redemptive principles and powers.<\/p>\n

Finding purpose<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Finding a purpose began almost immediately after Winship entered a maximum-security prison at age 29, with five consecutive life sentences ahead of him.<\/p>\n

At a time when prison education programs were better funded, Wilmington College (of Quaker origins) operated a branch campus inside the prison. Winship, who previously earned his degree in business administration from Graceland University in Iowa, became the program clerk, managing records of approximately 300 students using what was then new computer technology.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Greg Winship presents on restorative justice in prisons\u00a0 at the conclusion of his studies at EMU. (Photo by Andrew Strack)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He trained in Laubach literacy techniques and tutored in the GED program, eventually creating and writing curriculum for a pre-college program that helped students bridge the skills gap between GED and college coursework.<\/p>\n

In a pattern that would repeat over the coming years, Winship was trained in techniques, practiced the skills, and then became a trainer himself, bringing in others to learn and teach. He saw the tremendous human resources that were underutilized and inconsistent gaps in the system. People were allowed to improve themselves, to earn degrees, to finish programs, then \u201cthey went back to the kitchen or to janitorial work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan\u2019t we do something more?\u201d was Winship\u2019s response. \u201cThese guys are assets to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is still asking that question, and making that bold statement years and years later. In the broadest sense, he is still saying: Can\u2019t we do something more? These people are human beings who still have something to give back to society.<\/em><\/p>\n

Discovering restorative justice<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Winship read about Zehr\u2019s principles of restorative justice about 14 years into his prison sentence. The principles resonated immediately, he said.<\/p>\n

By Zehr\u2019s definition, restorative justice is \u201can approach to achieving justice that involves, to the extent possible, those who have a stake in a specific offense or harm to collectively identify and address harms, needs, and obligations in order to heal and put things as right as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

One reason for Winship\u2019s connection was that restorative justice depends on building relationships through dialogue and communication \u2014 skills and processes that are limited, minimalized and discouraged in the prison environment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Gregory Winship with Howard Zehr, distinguished professor of restorative justice at EMU. (Photo by Andrew Strack)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ironically, Winship was handed the Little Book of Restorative Justice<\/em> by a staff member. Such exchanges of material are \u201cillegal,\u201d he notes, with a wry smile.<\/p>\n

Yet, it is precisely those relationships and gestures \u2014 recognition of one\u2019s humanity \u2014 that were so important to his ultimate acceptance of responsibility and his need to \u201cheal and put things as right as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those relationships changed his path: the staff member who loaned him the book; the Wilmington College professors who called him by name instead of by number; the staff members and volunteers who supported his involvement with a shelter rescue and therapy dog training program; the Awareness Retreat team members who gave spiritual support; and finally, an unexpected intercessor who approached the parole board.<\/p>\n

Criminal, felon, inmate, offender<\/em>: \u201cThere is no nice name for what we are in our society,\u201d Winship says.<\/p>\n

He knows what it means to be treated as less than human, the small indignities, the inconsistencies of authoritarian rule, how prison culture makes re-entry to the outside difficult and sometimes impossible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons,\u201d Winship quotes Russian writer Dostoevsky, who spent 10 years in prison and in work camps, who was standing in front of an armed firing squad when his pardon arrived, death averted suddenly, astonishingly.<\/p>\n

Winship seeks out any chance to visit a prison across the country. \u201cEach prison is different,\u201d he says. \u201cThese visits tell me about civilization inside a prison: how we view incarceration, what we view as the purpose of prisons, and how we can possibly change the culture within.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes the key to simple, slow change is one person in charge, one person who might see a horse where others see frogs.<\/p>\n

Collaborating for change<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Since joining the Center for Conflict Resolution in Kansas City and beginning studies at EMU, Winship has engaged in training residents about conflict resolution, restorative justice and trauma resilience. All of these skills he sees as essential to personal growth inside the prison and in the transition back into society. (Approximately 95 percent<\/a> of inmates return to society, according to the Department of Justice.)<\/p>\n

After one conflict resolution training, an administrator saw residents \u201cpracticing the skills they learned in class,\u201d something she had not seen before with other programs. She has invited Winship to train staff. Winship\u2019s response: \u201cLet me train staff and residents together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bringing residents and staff together into a room where they together learn and explore skills of conflict resolution is potentially groundbreaking, culture-changing work. The rationale is clear: If residents can learn and practice conflict resolution skills, and staff can learn and practice conflict resolution skills, imagine the benefits to both parties, to the prison itself, and to the wider community. Would prisons be more rehabilitative environments if the relationships were collaborative instead of combative? If residents were treated as vessels of hope and healing instead of \u201can object or something we don\u2019t want to know anymore\u201d?<\/p>\n

He presented this theory of change to professors and classmates at EMU just a few weeks ago. When he finished, Zehr came up and proposed a retreat of formerly incarcerated individuals.<\/p>\n

To work together towards the creation of a fully restorative system or approach, Zehr encourages dialogue among many and varied voices. Such deep listening and collaboration with others has been an important and creative contributor to his own work. Such meetings, known as \u201cpalavers,\u201d are where those voices can be heard in a process that creates a path towards a shared vision.<\/p>\n

For Winship, this convergence had real possibilities: for years, he had thought about starting a national organization of formerly incarcerated individuals to be mentors of the restorative process to those impacted and harmed through the criminal justice system. This organization would also work to change the public image of returning citizens and to influence policy-makers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to start looking at our pasts as something that is a benefit and not a detriment, and we need to be responsible and accountable for our actions,\u201d he says. \u201cAll the restorative justice processes speak to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is not proud of why he spent 20 years in prison or the hurt he caused so many people. He\u2019d like to change that part of his past. But he can\u2019t and so he\u2019s working at making that right, slowly, one day and one relationship at a time. He owns his choices, then and now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout those 20 years, I wouldn\u2019t be able to do what I\u2019m doing now,\u201d Winship says. \u201cThat combination and the culmination of events in my life so far makes me think I\u2019m in the right place at the right time. I know that there is a bigger purpose than just me, but where that leads, I don\u2019t know. I feel like I\u2019m on the right path.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0When Gregory Winship begins teaching a new course of conflict transformation training at a minimum-security prison in Missouri, he waits until the second session to share his past. \u201cThe first ... read more about First master\u2019s in restorative justice graduate builds on past to share his vision of justice<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,12503,16077,17562,8845,14145,5603,6287,14139],"tags":[13825,5974,6232],"feature":[17427,17424,17426,17241],"class_list":["post-33441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-cjp","category-commencement-alumni","category-digest","category-emu-at-lancaster","category-peacebuilding-and-development","category-psychology","category-social-work","category-student-profiles","tag-carl-stauffer","tag-howard-zehr","tag-restorative-justice","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-featured-graduate","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nFirst master\u2019s in restorative justice graduate builds on past to share his vision of justice - 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