Walls to Bridges (W2B) transformed a penitentiary classroom into a shared space for storytelling, connection, and rewriting assumptions between Inside and Outside students
Lily Rosen (she/her) // Crew Writer
Jordan Richert (he/him) // Crew Illustrator
Walking into prison for the first time isn’t exactly the average start to a university class. For most students, first-day jitters involve finding the right building and hoping for no group projects. But for Alice Cavers, stepping into her ENGL 190 creative writing course at the Fraser Valley Institution for Women came with unique uncertainties.
Before taking the Walls to Bridges course—an educational program that brings university students (“Outside”) and incarcerated individuals (“Inside”) together in classrooms across Canada—Cavers had only seen prisons on American television. “Most of us have never stepped foot in a prison,” she remarks. “Walking into the class, we don’t have any idea what it would translate to in real-life Canadian prisons and what the people are going to be like.”
That first day was intimidating and exciting. When entering the federal prison, Cavers encountered the anticipated correctional officers, a metal detector and an intense atmosphere. “It felt like airport security,” she recalls. But beyond the main building, expectations began to bend. The prison grounds were not a series of barred cells but a collection of small houses arranged in a circle. “I walk around, and it looks like a little community,” Cavers says. Turns out, it’s not like Litchfield Penitentiary in Orange is the New Black.
Inside the classroom, her assumptions continued to shatter. “Then, you walk into the classroom, and there are all these women not wearing uniforms or anything. They’re wearing normal clothes. They’re sitting down in a classroom. And in that moment, you kind of forget where you are,” Cavers asserts. The course rules also reinforced equality. Students weren’t allowed to ask about each other’s crimes or share full names, ensuring that every student, Inside and Outside, could engage without preconceived judgments.
Over time, the initial apprehension in the room melted away. “By the end of that first class, I got a vibe that the Inside students are some of the most hardworking people I’ve ever met,” Cavers beams. “They were all very genuine, very open, and I realized there was absolutely nothing to be concerned about.”
She describes how creative writing became a tool for vulnerability, breaking down the invisible walls that might have separated the incarcerated from those who were not. “Maybe when I first walked in, I felt a divide,” Cavers says. “But very shortly after, those barriers were completely dismantled.” At first, many Inside students hesitated to share their writing, but it didn’t take long for participation to flip. “We’d run out of time because everybody wanted to share. Everybody was proud of their work and really excited to hear what their friends had to say.”
Beyond reshaping her understanding of incarceration, the experience profoundly changed Cavers’ perspective on education and human connection. “It was more than just a class. It was like a shared human experience,” she reflects. “It showed me how creativity and learning can break through some of the strongest barriers in society, i.e. the incarceration system. And that was an experience I will never forget.”
For students considering the Walls to Bridges program, Cavers offers thoughtful advice: “If you’re the type of person who’s open-minded, non-judgmental and thrives in an environment where you can share and be vulnerable with others, then I think that this course is for you. But if you’re coming into it just for the novelty of it and have no interest in connecting with people like human beings, then it’s not.”
What seemed intimidating on the first day transformed into deeply unexpected connections and personal, creative growth. More than just prose and poetry, Walls to Bridges gave Cavers a rare opportunity to challenge her assumptions and find empathy and compassion on both sides of the prison walls.
