Interview excerpt from the October issue of Sun Magazine. It's with Henry Robinett and by Aaron Carnes.

"My first class at Folsom Prison was in the hanging room. This was where they would hang people a hundred years ago. Being in that room filled me with an eerie sense of history, as if there were ghosts in the granite. The inmates were aware of it, too.

Carnes: What happened to change your perspective on the inmates?

Robinett: Most of them seemed just like you and me. There were a couple of scary incidents, but I didn't have the feeling I would be harmed. I quickly overcame my fear, and I think that served me well as a teacher, because people can sense if you're intimidated by them, or if you think they're scum. It isn't my job to judge these men. I treat the prisoners the same way I treat any other student, except I can't  give them a ride home after class. [Laughs.]

Carnes: How has this experience changed your view of prison?

Robinett: I think our system of incarceration is inhumane. These guys are allowed almost no dignity. As far as I'm concerned, their sentence is their punishment. They aren't supposed to be treated cruelly on top of that. They have rights. Sure, they gave up some rights when they committed a crime, but not all.

Carnes: Do you know what your student's crimes were?

Robinett: Not usually, no, and I don't care. There's one guy, William. I've known him longer than I've known anybody else in prison. He was in my first class in 1993. I don't  know what he did, but it must have been bad. He's never getting out. Sure, I have a mild curiosity about his crime, but at this point there's nothing he can tell me that would change my opinion of him. He is the person I know, not the person who murdered or molested someone or whatever. If we were all still held accountable for every bad thing we've done, we'd be in terrible shape. And, yes, most of us have never done anything that bad, but I think almost all of us have done something at some point in our lives that could have gotten us arrested.

Carnes: So teaching prisoners has helped you to stop judging people?

Robinett: Well, my wife will tell you that she and I still sit and talk about people on the street: My God, can you believe what she's wearing? [Laughs.] But, yes, I think I can better suspend my reflex to sit in judgment.

Full interview