For more than two decades, Duquesne University sociology professor Norman Conti has been teaching lessons that go far beyond the classroom, taking higher education inside prison walls following a model that began as an academic experiment and has grown into a nationally used model for studying restorative justice.
“Restorative justice looks at the offender, the victim and the community — and asks what led to this problem, what are the results and how can we repair it?” he said.
Conti has spent years teaching sociology both on campus and inside the Allegheny County Jail, where he leads courses through the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program — a national initiative that brings college students and incarcerated individuals together to learn side by side. Each semester, 15 Duquesne students join 15 inmates for a course that treats everyone as equals.
“You’re not there to study the incarcerated citizens or to help them,” Conti explained. “You’re there to learn with them.”
The model challenges stereotypes on both sides, and all students enter with their own anxieties. While outside students often walk into the jail nervous about what to expect, many incarcerated students worry they won’t measure up academically. Within a couple of weeks, Conti said, those fears fade and friendships form.
“They quickly learn they’re just as smart — they just haven’t had the same opportunities,” he said.
In recent years, one of Conti’s most distinctive courses explored Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” through the lens of restorative justice. Rather than simply assigning the play for discussion, Conti invited two fellow educators to teach alongside him, creating an unforgettable interdisciplinary course that merged theater, philosophy and sociology.
Susan Stein brought her background in theater to guide students through reading and performing the play — helping them interact with Shakespeare’s text in a personal and expressive way.
Alongside her, philosophy professor Jeff McCurry led conversations about democracy and freedom, connecting the play’s themes to broader human and societal questions.
The course culminated in a restorative justice session held just before Act 5 — the moment when the tragedy’s cycle of revenge would otherwise reach its fatal end — allowing students to imagine how the story could be rewritten toward reconciliation instead of destruction.
“It’s fascinating because anything you try is better than what happens in the play,” Conti said with a laugh. “Education should change us — and it should change us for the better.”
His work has also evolved into programs that connect police recruits with incarcerated men serving long-term sentences. In what Conti calls Police Training Inside-Out, the two groups study and collaborate on projects together to build understanding and trust that could “buy a few seconds” during real-world encounters.
Over the years, Conti has seen powerful stories emerge from his classrooms behind bars. One of the most memorable involves Robert “Faruq” Wideman, brother of acclaimed author John Edgar Wideman. Once serving a life sentence, Faruq was released after 44 years and now teaches alongside Conti at Duquesne.
“To go from teaching him in prison to co-teaching with him in a university classroom — that’s restorative justice at work,” Conti said.
He hopes his work inspires others to find their own way to give back — whether that’s volunteering, mentoring or simply showing up for someone who needs hope.
“Democracy isn’t just paying taxes and voting,” he said. “If you want things to get better, you have to do something — something that restores you, too.”
It doesn’t matter if Dr. Norman Conti is teaching his students on campus or behind prison walls — either way, he continues to prove that real education, and real justice, happen when people are willing to take the time to get to know each other and learn from one another as they set their differences aside.
