Women in Missouri prison earn degrees and find hope through Kansas City University classes

For Vermonn Roberts, earning her associate degree means her life isn’t over and she can still pursue her dreams, even though she’s in prison.

Roberts, 39, was one of 11 who recently graduated from a college program at Chillicothe Correctional Center, about 90 minutes northeast of Kansas City. It was the first class of graduates in the program launched by Rockhurst University.

According to Craig Watz, the program director at Rockhurst, five of the graduates were inmates and six were employees of the Missouri Department of Corrections.

The women’s prison had no educational program. In 2017, the Department of Corrections approached the university about creating a curriculum. Watz said the program falls within the Jesuit mission and that the curriculum included a “traditional Jesuit foundation.”

One class was taught per semester. Watz said the Rockhurst faculty members who taught the classes in prison were as transformed as the students.

Some participants are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole.

“So many people think of education as a means to get a job, which it is,” Watz said. “But we see it as a means to really show these students what a shared humanity we have, what a sense of belonging is, what a sense of acceptance in the community is, and that education is that vehicle, that opportunity, to really give them a sense of worth.”

Vermonn, who lived in North Kansas City before her 2005 conviction, said one class that stood out to her the most was a course on criminal justice. She learned that while the law is written in black and white, people “have to look deeper at each individual, each person, each situation.”

In a written reflection, Lisa Suter said that by 2018, the year the program began, she had been incarcerated for more than 30 years. She was “tired of living the same day over and over again. I had taken advantage of every opportunity here, but most doors are closed to people with my kind of time. I wanted to give up.”

The program allowed her to take English, history, science and philosophy, among other courses.

In a phone call from prison, she said she has tried to improve herself to honor her victim and change who she is. She has completed many programs. But in her decades of incarceration, participating in this program was the first time her father told her he was proud.

“I will never forget that,” she said.

Before the program, their phone conversations were short and simple, they became fun and engaging after she enrolled and they talked about what she was learning and he shared his experiences at school.

“When Rockhurst is here and I’m in the classroom, I don’t feel like a prisoner with a number, I feel like a regular student in a classroom,” she said. “Rockhurst has given me more than an education, they’ve given me hope.”

Suter said she has applied for a pardon. If it is granted, she said she plans to move to Kansas City and continue her education at Rockhurst.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Karen Pojmann said the program is unprecedented for staff members who face financial barriers and time constraints that prevent them from continuing their education.

“Rockhurst brought higher education to them, which is a testament to a true commitment to serving the people who serve our state,” Pojmann said.

Lisa Smith, a probation officer at the prison, says a college education was always on her wish list.

“But I have two kids and it was always more important to send them to college,” she said. “I probably wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t offered here.”

Although it was sometimes difficult to expand her duties, prison officer Naomi Yuille said the shift leaders and sergeants went the extra mile.

“Everyone wanted us to be successful.”

The program, which is funded primarily by private grants and donations, will continue this fall.