美国国家公共电台 NPR After Half A Century, Inmates Resurrect The Norfolk Prison Debating Society

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: 

Half a century ago, one of the best debate teams in the Northeast didn't come from an Ivy-clad private school - far from it. They were inmates 2 at a Massachusetts prison. By 1966, the Norfolk Prison Debating Society boasted 144 wins and eight losses against teams like Harvard, Princeton and MIT. But when a more punitive 3 approach swept prisons across the U.S., that debate team dissolved - until now. Natasha Haverty takes us there.

NATASHA HAVERTY, BYLINE 5: For a few minutes, the six men in the empty prison auditorium 6 had a chance to take it all in.

RONALD LEFTWICH: (Laughter) Yeah, we're going to bring this back, and we're going to do this. This is important to let people know who we are, what we're about.

HAVERTY: For Ronald Leftwich and his teammates, it would all come down to this afternoon. Across the prison, their opponents from Boston College - fresh off a victory against Notre Dame 7 - were getting ushered 8 through the metal detectors 9. Senior Sean McDonald had never set foot in a prison, much less debated one.

SEAN MACDONALD: It's going to be an honor to debate them. We know that they've beaten Oxford 10 and plenty other very, very competitive debate teams, so it should be fun.

HAVERTY: This is the prison stage where in 1951 Oxford University lost its winning streak 11, where Malcolm X - then an inmate 1 named Malcolm Little - got his first taste of public speaking, where men at the bottom rung of society's ladder went head to head with college boys who'd grow up to be the likes of Larry Tribe and Leonard Cohen.

(CROSSTALK)

HAVERTY: The doors open. Hundreds of men take their seats. Prison superintendent 12 Sean Medeiros does too.

SEAN MEDEIROS: I'm feeling a little excited. I'm hoping the men do well.

HAVERTY: Only a couple of men have been incarcerated 13 at Norfolk long enough to remember the last debate here.

UNIDENTIFIED MODERATOR: Until today, we have not hosted a college debate in over 50 years.

HAVERTY: On stage, five Boston College students sit opposite the prison debaters. The moderator introduces the topic - the future of our planet, climate change. Resolved - that the U.S. should impose a tax on greenhouse gas emissions 14. Norfork prison will argue in favor. James Keown speaks first.

JAMES KEOWN: There's a storm coming. When it first hits the Boston area, the ocean will surge into east Boston, the seaport 15 and parts of the downtown waterfront.

HAVERTY: And while the idea of sitting through two hours of environmental policy might sound really boring, every guy in this audience is smiling, head up. The prison team's captain, Dan Throop, adds some spectacle, walking to the lectern in a surgical 16 mask.

DAN THROOP: After listening to our opponent's first two arguments, we may have to check the carbon dioxide levels in this auditorium today.

(LAUGHTER)

HAVERTY: But when Boston College's Sean MacDonald comes out, it starts to feel like these students could win over the judges, maybe even the audience.

MACDONALD: If you want, I can hand you back the surgical mask because, under your plan, you're going to have even dirtier air than we have right now.

HAVERTY: For the last two years, a group of inmates has been fighting to resurrect the Norfork Prison Debating Society. For these next two hours, James Keown says everything is on the line.

KEOWN: This is a humanizing event to me. I mean, this is about, you know, we have a place in this world and we have a voice and we have something to share.

HAVERTY: It's meant hours of training - one day a week together in a classroom, then back to their cells to rehearse alone. Research - while their opponents had the internet, these guys - several of whom didn't finish high school - relied on their sisters and moms to send them articles. And then, Keown says, there was getting a college to come in and make this all real.

KEOWN: It's less about the competition, and it's more about those outside the wall willing to come in and say, we'll meet you where you're at.

HAVERTY: This idea of intellectual exchange between inmates and the outside world was what Norfolk prison was founded on. But pulling it off was never easy. Someone always cried foul 17 at the thought of violent offenders 18 getting an education and brushing shoulders with the public. Those voices have only gotten louder, says Superintendent Sean Medeiros.

MEDEIROS: Corrections has changed, you know? And that's the only thing I can really say is that, you know, we've changed and, you know, I guess it's up to debate whether we've changed for the better or not.

HAVERTY: Which meant for a debate to happen in Norfolk prison in 2016, the Massachusetts Department of Correction kept a tight grip - from what topic the men could debate to who was allowed to speak to the pair of reporters there to cover the event. Despite those obstacles, there's always been a core group of inmates at Norfolk committed to making life more meaningful. Most of them are lifers.

GORDON HAAS: Because we're here and, let's face it, many of us are going to die here.

HAVERTY: Gordon Haas has been at Norfolk almost 40 years serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

HAAS: Just because someone is serving life, it doesn't mean they stop living.

HAVERTY: And Haas says, in the days leading up to the debate, the prison's been abuzz, even the staff. Superintendent Medeiros says debate has transformed these inmates.

MEDEIROS: If you saw these guys when they probably first started their sentence, they're totally different men now.

HAVERTY: George Vicente is up for parole on a second-degree murder charge in a few months.

GEORGE VICENTE: I am 32 years old. And I've been incarcerated since I was 17.

HAVERTY: When the team's captain asked Vicente to come debate some college students, he says he hesitated.

VICENTE: I was a bit nervous, you know, 'cause this is like these are some smart kids.

HAVERTY: But he says he knew the message of victory against those kids could send.

VICENTE: It shows that, you know, there's value and there's intelligence and that it's not just, you know, animals and just good-for-nothings and, you know, people that know nothing behind the wall because I know that's the stereotype 20. You know, if we lose, that's what, you know, the world expects, you know? But if we win, the world's not expecting that.

UNIDENTIFIED MODERATOR: Please welcome Mr. George Vicente to the lectern.

(APPLAUSE)

HAVERTY: As sunlight streams through the auditorium windows, Vicente takes the stage.

VICENTE: Regarding the con 19 team's eloquent 21 and obviously passionate 22 position, the pro 4 team respectfully disagrees.

HAVERTY: He speaks for almost 10 minutes before the timekeeper lifts up a red card, signaling to Vicente he has just a few seconds left. If he goes over, he's disqualified. His team loses. Vicente leans in.

VICENTE: Because the evidence proves, and we agree with The New York Times that, quote, "a carbon tax is indeed the most sensible tax of all," Mr. Moderator.

(APPLAUSE)

HAVERTY: Minutes later, the judges announce the winner. Norfolk prison defeats Boston College by a hair - just .6 points. Some men hold one hand over their heart with the other raised up at the stage. But the standing 23 ovation 24 comes when, on behalf of the entire prison, the moderator thanks their young opponents for being willing to brave the journey inside. For NPR News, I'm Natasha Haverty.