"Inside the US prison system, finding an avenue for higher education is a monumental task. Some define time as linear, some see it as a block. Others refer to it as something spent, in the present, or the future. Meanwhile, others consider it to be supernatural or holy, or something to twist, tame or traverse. As someone who has been sentenced to a lifetime behind bars, time is both abstract and defined."
"and defined. When you have so much time, it is all you have, yet, inside, you have almost no control over how to spend it. Every day, I can hear it: tick, tick, tick. It's torturous, like that dripping faucet in my cell. So to quiet the sound, I study. I learn. I try to build something meaningful from the minutes."
A person serving a life sentence at New Jersey State Prison uses study to occupy time and pursue higher education despite institutional limits. The prison offers only GED-level courses, so the person relies on outside correspondence courses and independent study, including certifications costing hundreds to thousands of dollars and for-profit mail-order degrees. Prison life exposes inmates to drugs, gambling, and illicit activity, making constructive pursuits difficult. Before arrest in 2002, the person was a 25-year-old entrepreneur studying Information Technology. The person's deceased father emigrated from Pakistan to enable education, motivating continued study to honor that sacrifice.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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