Jenkins Brings The ‘Inferno’ Behind Prison Walls

A recent piece in The New York Times details how Ronald Jenkins, professor of theater, and some of his students, are teaching Dante’s Inferno to inmates at both men’s and women’s prisons in Connecticut and New York. “In ‘Inferno,’ Dante tells the story of a journey through hell, from a dark place to the light,” Dr. Jenkins, 58, said. “Everyone who reads it can identify with it, but the inmates can identify in a more powerful way, because they’ve gone through hell more than the rest of us. In our classes, they aren’t identifying with the sinners; they identify with Dante.”