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Often in political science courses, we are asked to write policy briefs that explain a specific issue, provide data, and offer policy solutions. Last year, I took a course in state government, focusing on the differences between how states formulate and enact legislation, and for my policy brief I chose to focus on the lack of quality healthcare for incarcerated women in the United States and how Kentucky has failed to address the issue time and time again. This policy brief, while always relevant, crossed my mind again this semester when my class began a series of seminars on Angela Davis's iconic work Are Prisons Obsolete? led by Dr. Cherie Dawson-Edwards. In a country where we continually incarcerate millions of people for unjust reasons in heinous conditions, I hope that pressing this issue and discussing it in spaces like the McConnell Center will keep it in the forefront of our minds, especially as my classmates and I graduate and enter the "real" world where many of us will go into politics or the legal system ourselves. Our actions and words have serious impacts on those around us, so it's our responsibility to educate each other on issues that affect those around us, not just ourselves.
Claire Harmon, of Benton, Ky., is a member of the McConnell Scholar Class of 2023 at the University of Louisville. She studies library science with a concentration in political science. She is also a UofL Vogt Scholar.