John Jay College of Criminal Justice Names Its First Woman as Executive Director

John Jay College of Criminal Justice Names Its First Woman as Executive Director: On the first day of this fall’s English 101 class at Otisville Correctional Facility, as visiting college administrator Ann Jacobs began asking 12 prisoners about their dreams and expectations, their level of engagement wholly, suddenly shifted.

“There’s something hard about a prison door locking behind you — the consciousness you have about not breaking the rules — that creates an intensity,” Jacobs said. “Then, you’re in a classroom that looks kind of like every other classroom, but it’s not co-ed, and the students are multi-aged, and half of them are looking at me real intently and the other half are doing the things that people do when they choose to sit at the back of the room. Not talking, not asking a lot.”