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Perhaps civil discourse feels harder to come by these days in this age of political polarization. But the art of debate is thriving in one unlikely place, prisons. Oregon Public Broadcasting's Tiffany Camhi recently went to a debate tournament at a maximum security prison.
TIFFANY CAMHI, BYLINE: Oregon State Penitentiary's debate club is called the Capital Toastmasters. They host a college debate tournament inside the prison every year.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Fifteen minutes of prep begins now.
CAMHI: Four teams faced each other in the championship round, two incarcerated teams and two from a local university. Their topic? Eliminating social media with the push of a button. Lewis & Clark College senior Isabella Moore starts off arguing against that idea.
ISABELLA MOORE: What tool do oppressive regimes use time and time again when something they don't like is happening? They shut off the internet.
CAMHI: Then it's the other side's turn.
ANDY CHAPPELL: Our team line basically is, hell, yes, push the button.
CAMHI: That's inmate Andy Chappell, president of the Capital Toastmasters.
CHAPPELL: We kind of disagree with social media being this great outlet that they talk about.
CAMHI: Chappell says debate has taught him how to organize and present concepts logically and to really listen to other people. That's not something he was able to do in front of an appeals judge about 15 years ago.
CHAPPELL: The judge asked me, do you have anything you want to say about the sentence that I just gave? She gave me 30 years for property crimes, and I was pretty angry. I was a pretty angry guy. And I told her, yeah, why don't you come down off that bench and fight like a man.
CAMHI: But five years later, Chappell successfully argued to have his sentence reduced.
CHAPPELL: I told her the things that I'd been doing with this club and in my own personal life, with my education and with my work. And due to the skills in communication that I had learned in this club, she ended up giving me 10 years off my sentence.
CAMHI: Research shows that practicing debate helps people develop critical thinking and communication skills. Theron Hall is another inmate in Capital Toastmasters.
THERON HALL: There's a lot of people who are genuinely trying to transform and make amends for all the things that led them here. And Toastmasters is one of them things to help communicate, to be leaders, to be better people.
CAMHI: Hall says debate has forced him to consider perspectives from all sides. And he's had to argue in favor of ideas he didn't really believe in.
HALL: I think that takes a skill, legitimately, to say, you know what? I don't really agree with this position but let me try to understand.
CAMHI: The concept of debate clubs in correctional facilities isn't new. Oregon State Penitentiary has had one for more than 50 years. Daniel Throop is the founder of the National Prison Debate League. The nonprofit supports eight prison debate teams across the U.S.
DANIEL THROOP: We're teaching folks how to be able to be their own best self-advocates long after our cohorts are over, both in and out of prison.
(APPLAUSE)
CAMHI: Back at the tournament, closing arguments have been made and teams await the results.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Our champion team is the opening government.
(CHEERING)
CAMHI: Chappell's team wins. And he's ecstatic as he takes the trophy.
CHAPPELL: It feels fantastic. I've been looking for this for years. I'm going to take it back to my cell. I'll probably go to the hole because I'm not allowed to have it, but that's my trophy (laughter).
CAMHI: And Chappell says it's not about winning. It's about incarcerated people like himself taking steps to reform their lives.
For NPR News, I'm Tiffany Camhi in Salem, Oregon.
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