UO junior Patrick Miller traveling in Mendoza, Argentina.
Patrick Miller, 22, is a junior at the University of Oregon studying Planning, Public Policy and Management. Originally from Portland, OR, Miller signed up for the CGO as a freshman after taking a year off from high school to do a City Year in Boston, MA.
“I got here and I got connected to the CGO and it’s a great group of people,” said Miller. “We’re doing a lot of interesting things on campus and it’s a really good community that’s benefited me for the past 3 years.”
One of the many programs Miller is involved in is the Inside-Out Prison Exchange program. In this program, led by CGO director Shaul Cohen, UO students take classes side by side with inmates who are currently serving a sentence in prison. Miller explained how the program changes common misconceptions of inmates.
“You go there and see these guys and you kind of have the perception of, oh he did this crime he’s a terrible person,” said Miller. “But they are some of the smartest and most compassionate people you’ll ever meet.”
In the U.S. over 2.3 million people are in prison. A number that is a big ethical dilemma for Miller. Miller described the Inside-Out program as a powerful experience that allows him to be engaged in the ethics around prison.
“It’s a way to give the guys on the inside a chance to interact with students and give students from the outside a chance to interact with the system that is massive in the United States,” said Miller.
One of Miller’s highlights from the Inside-Out program was running into a past inmate from the program on campus last year, Isaiah Holt. Holt served seven years in the Oregon State Penitentiary. While in prison Holt faced a huge ethical dilemma, go home on early parole or stay in prison to become a licensed electrician. Holt chose the latter. His success story is one of many that were shared in a TEDxPortland talk.
“That was pretty awesome to see how the program and education on the inside helped him turn his life around,” said Miller.
Other highlights from Miller’s experience include attending a talk with Michelle Alexander Author of The New Jim Crow. Alexander is a civil rights advocate and her book discusses race-related issues around mass incarceration in the U.S.
“I thought that was really powerful and it was one of my first experiences being exposed to the idea of the criminal justice system being a way to keep minorities disenfranchised,” said Miller.
Prison ethics is one of the many ethical dilemmas that the CGO discusses in what they call their “Wagon Wheel” activity. Miller compares the Wagon Wheel to speed dating, in the sense that you get two minutes to talk to someone before getting up and moving to the next person. Popular questions that they ask each other are “what is the biggest ethical dilemma in your life right now?” Or “if you had a magic wand what’s the first thing you would wish for?” The Wagon Wheel gives students the opportunity to have deep conversations about ethics with someone they just met or don’t know very well.
“I think the reason why it’s important to have conversations around ethics is because a lot of times we are talking about really difficult subject matter or about decisions we make in the moment,” said Miller. “If you haven’t thought about those things before you are in those moments, I think it’s a lot more difficult to make the right choice or maybe you make choices that compromise how you see yourself as a person.”
Miller plans on graduating a term early and spending next summer in Boston, MA working for a non-profit.
“It [the CGO] keeps me motivated and wanting to be someone who can make a difference,” said Miller.
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