A prison speech-and-debate program has relaunched in Houston after a three-and-a-half-year hiatus.
The Houston chapter of the Rikers Debate Project (RDP) will return to the Harris County Jail to teach inmates how to effectively argue.
The Houston chapter was founded in 2019 by Caitlin Halpern, a commercial litigation associate at a Houston law firm. Halpern is a former public defender and paralegal at a criminal defense firm.
She moved to Houston from New York in 2019, and it is from New York’s Rikers Island jail that RDP originates.
Since 2016, RDP volunteers have taught speech and debate in jails and prisons, at first just in the boroughs of New York City but eventually expanding to New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, New Orleans, and Houston.
The volunteers are a mix of formerly incarcerated individuals who participated in the debate project, as well as volunteer attorneys.
In Houston, Halpern and her volunteers teach in teams, but the volunteers are not required to have prior experience in either debate or teaching.
“The most important quality is interest in getting to know our students and empowering them to advocate for themselves,” Halpern said to The Texas Lawbook.
RDP’s website says its mission is to channel the skills of competitive debate to give incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people a greater say in the decisions that affect their lives.
“By teaching skills like advocacy, communication, conflict resolution, and public citizenship, we bring issues of the city and nation to our students, and bring their voices outside of the jailhouse walls,” the website says.
The website also features a handwritten letter from one of RDP’s prisoner-participants.
“This whole ‘Rikers Debate Project’ is probably one of the best ideas and opportunities that we can partake in,” the letter reads. “What could we as inmates/convicts be doing in the housing units that is better? I really do feel better about myself … . I was able to show New York City and the social media world that not all detainees, convicts, and inmates are dumb animals. I beat two Columbia University students in a public debate!”
Halpern told The Texas Lawbook that one former RDP student was able to get into Columbia University’s College of Social Work.
For more information about RDP, visit rikersdebateproject.org.