From Prison to Law School: Dant’e Cottingham’s Journey Since March 2022
By Sherry Reames
The Wisconsin Examiner headline, “Formerly incarcerated teacher instructs UW law students about criminal justice system,” caught my attention in late January; and I was even more interested when I recognized that formerly incarcerated teacher as Dant’e Cottingham. Dant’e was the subject of a “Returning Citizen” profile in the Oct/Nov 2022 issue of the MOSES Newsletter, half a year after his release. At that point he was working part-time both as an EXPO leader in Racine and a WisHope recovery coach in Waukesha. I also used to see him regularly as a fellow volunteer with the WISDOM task force on Old Law/Parole and Commutation. But I hadn’t talked with him recently, and I jumped at the chance to interview him about his current work with the Remington Center at University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School.
As Dant’e explained, his connection with the Remington Center began during his incarceration, when he received help from some of Professor Kate Finley’s students through the LAIP (Legal Assistance to Incarcerated People) program. After his release on parole, he was invited several times to speak to students in law school classes, and both he and the faculty recognized the need for law students to learn more from speakers with lived experience in the system. That was the origin of a new course, “The Criminal Justice System: A Lived Experience Perspective,” which Dant’e is team-teaching this spring with Professor Alan Stevenson.
As described by the Examiner, this course addresses every stage of the system, from arrest and trial to the re-entry process, plus the systemic inequality in criminal justice, advocacy for reform, and future directions. Guest speakers this semester have included Wisconsin Department of Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy, Wood County District Attorney Jonathan Barnett, at least one public defender, and men and women who have experienced incarceration themselves. Assigned readings in the course include additional autobiographies of people with lived experience of the system.
Dant’e’s job title at the Remington Center is “Re-Entry and Outreach Support Specialist.” Most of his work consists of connecting current prisoners with the Remington Center’s clinical law programs and other resources they need for help with applications for parole or sentence adjustments, appeals, treatment programs, recovery from trauma, and successful re-entry.
Dant’e is an excellent public speaker, and he remains deeply committed to his larger project of educating the public in a way that fosters understanding and empathy for the individual human experiences of incarcerated people. He also told me that he will soon be publishing a memoir about his own journey as a juvenile lifer who has completely turned his life around. Details will be posted on his website, Dantecottingham.com.