Meet Lois Colton
Teacher |Author | Speaker | Advocate
Lois Colton forged a notable 20-year career as an adult educator with an unlikely student body—felony inmates at Oregon State's oldest maximum-security prison.
The story of this lively, determined young woman’s experiences teaching basic literacy skills to felony male prison inmates is vividly depicted in the collection of essays she wrote throughout her career and subsequently compiled into a documentary memoir entitled Teaching to a Captive Audience: Relfections of a Prison Educator.
Twice recognized as the International Corrections Education Association's "Teacher of the Year" for Region VI, Lois offered her caring nature and unwavering dedication to excellence in teaching for her incarcerated students, leaving an indelible mark on the lives of those she met serving time behind bars.
Lois Colton is currently retired and living in Hood River, Oregon where her curly red hair and bright smile make her a recognizable character around town when she walks the trails and byways, writes in groups, teaches English to immigrants, and cares for her family, friends, and community with the same kind of creative energy that has powered her through all her life’s endeavors.
Teaching to a Captive Audience: Reflections from a Prison Educator
Most books written about the topics of mass incarceration or criminal justice are quite gritty and dark. Teaching to a Captive Audience is different. Besides getting to sit in on lessons taught by an award winning adult educator, readers will meet many colorful offenders and be taken on a sensory tourist's journey through the rooms and routines of the old penitentiary to get their own taste of what it means to be incarcerated. The realities are tough, but the read is by far more heart-warming and compelling than it is disturbing.
Other published works:
The Yes Book, Writings About Yes, edited by Jill Cooper, 2014
101 Tales of Finding Love, Volume Three, compiled and edited by Irma Sheppard, 2019
The Om Point Circular, an online journal, 2014
Hood River News Literary Magazine, 2014
Invite Lois to speak at your event
Lois offers the distilled wisdom of a prestigious career in adult education, and she would be happy to discuss the possibility of speaking at your event.