Hi everyone.
Some of you may have noticed that not long ago I removed a significant amount of old content from this site. I did so feeling that much of my earlier work requires too much effort to read and prevents visitors from viewing more relevant posts.
But now that I am preparing a January 25th video presentation for an audience of forensic linguists, I find that referencing that older content will add supportive context to my thesis.
If you notice the reappearance of old threads containing rudimentary works, know that they’re being repurposed and will be removed again mid-February (but still available to anyone who reaches me with a request).
My thanks to Annie with Aston University in Birmingham, England, for inviting me to present and for contributing to this text:
ABSTRACT
“Exploring the Benefits of Progressively Integrating Language Structures Behind Bars”
In 2014, Patrick Irving committed acts of arson while in a drug-induced psychosis and sent to prison to serve two consecutive 20-year sentences. Four years into his prison term, an unlikely exchange with Karl J. Friston, a renowned neuroscientist from the Institute of Neurology at the University College London, inspired him to begin piecing together an exhibit of prison records, personal notes and ephemera, and release it as an improvisational experiment that he continues to run from incarceration.
In this talk, Irving will address the following questions: What happens when we fail to communicate and reinforce the beliefs behind the relabeling of carceral fixtures to the people who are incarcerated? And how do we go about better reinforcing and modeling the beliefs that drive these language shifts?
Irving will draw on his own experiences as complemented by his original writing and drawings, including the more refined works that followed, to reflect on his own journey of incarceration. He considers the role that language plays in the institutional setting: for example, how important is it for persons impacted by the correctional system to be able to articulate their experiences, as well as the significance of transparent communication between the prison and its inmates (or rather its “residents”.) Irving also traces his own behavioral changes and current trajectory through several pivotal exchanges that have rippled out from his work.
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BIO
Patrick Irving from the Idaho Department of Correction’s Robert Janss School is currently serving a 15-to-40 years prison sentence for two counts of arson. He is a contributor to Prison Journalism Project, a member of PEN America’s forthcoming Incarcerated Writers Bureau, and the author of “‘First Amend This!’, an IDOC Newsletter”. He uses the blog bookofirving82431.com to share his efforts, progress and experiences while incarcerated. His writing has been published by the Idaho Law Review, SolitaryWatch.org, The Harbinger, Prison Journalism Project, JSTOR and The New York Times.