Journal of Education and Culture Studies ISSN 2573-0401 (Print) ISSN 2573-041X (Online) Vol. 3, No. 4, 2019 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/jecs 439 Original Paper A Prison Education Counternarrative: “Mock Citizenship” in a Women’s Prison Sultana Shabazz 1 , Brian Sohn 2 , Melissa Harness 3 & Brittany Aronson 4* 1 Interim Director of WCCW/MCCCW, Tacoma Community College, Washington Corrections Center for Women, 6501 South 19 th Street, Tacoma, WA 98466, United States 2 Assistant Professor of Education, Carson-Newman University, 1646 Russel Avenue, Jefferson City, TN, United States 3 Law Student, Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law, 601 W Summit Hill DR SW, Knoxville, TN 37902, United States 4 Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, Miami University, 210 East Spring Street, 304 McGuffey Hall, Oxford, OH 45056, United States * Brittany Aronson, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, Miami University, 210 East Spring Street, 304 McGuffey Hall, Oxford, OH 45056, United States Received: October 9, 2019 Accepted: October 21, 2019 Online Published: November 27, 2019 doi:10.22158/jecs.v3n4p439 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/jecs.v3n4p439 Abstract In this article, we develop a perspective on the purposes and possibilities of education in prison through the stories of the first author, a prison educator and critical pedagogue. In the context of today’s prisons, we complicate universalist notions of citizenship by weaving theories of citizenship into the story of education. We share the daily concerns of a prison educator and explore the transformative possibilities that women convict students try on. We question how to shape educational practices in prison and contemplate the construction of a new “mock citizenship” informed by the realities of felony disenfranchisement. Our hope is to bring to the conversation something that has been lacking when discussions of incarceration occur: insight into the ways incarcerated students perform the role of citizen and how the purpose of prison education must extend beyond job readiness toward the creation of full citizens able to participate in the democratic process. Keywords citizenship, social justice education, critical pedagogy, prison education, cultural studies