Inside Out: Transformative Learning Stories and Strategies from Incarcerated Students

Inside Out offers a solution when the souls of men, in this case, of incarcerated men, are at stake. As higher education faces waves of criticism—a lack of demonstrated value, not holding its worth as an investment, and being a costly waste of student time—the personal stories of students in this book offer a solid rebuttal. Through personal narratives, this collection displays Christian higher education’s greater purpose in equipping the hearts of incarcerated men.

This book reveals a compelling case for how transformative learning challenges students from the inside out. In a compelling display of character, hope, and inspiration, the blend of student voices shares less about their crimes and more about their transformation. Inside Out demonstrates soul work in higher education. Faculty will learn strategies for teaching from student perspectives. Future students will be inspired to undertake their own personal learning journeys. All audiences, particularly people of faith, will be nudged to nurture their own spiritual walk.

Bruce A. Perkins has been a pastor and educator for fifty years. He is the founding director of the Prison Divinity Program, which offers a bachelor's degree from Oklahoma Baptist University to incarcerated men in the Oklahoma prison system. The program is the first of its kind in the state. He is a 2025 Oklahoma Baptist University Walter O. Mason, Jr. Kingdom Diversity Hall of Fame inductee for his work to bring transformative education to Oklahoma's incarcerated population.


Jeanetta D. Sims is a 2023 Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame inductee, thirty-plus-award-winning scholar, and professor at the University of Central Oklahoma. She is the founder of Diverse Student Scholars, an interdisciplinary program of undergraduate research engagement, which was recognized with a 2022 DaVinci Award for creativity in Oklahoma higher education. As a former coeditor of the Journal of Transformative Learning and cofounder of the Transformative Learning Conference Proceedings, this is her third coedited book on transformative learning.