Founder of the Prison Maths Project - How Solitary Confinement Sparked His Life as a Mathematician: Meet Christopher Havens
What is your personal narrative?
I was one of the people who grew up making all of the worst decisions for the purpose of fitting in and creating the least resistance. This led to an early addiction, and later.. a 25 year sentence for taking another man's life. That's my past, and it's full of all the flavors and varieties of darkness one could imagine. The one underlying behavior which carried me through a whole life of crime, hurt and destruction was this overwhelming need to fit in.. to look "solid" in the eyes of my "associates of abandoned humanity".
When I inevitably landed in prison for the worst possible crime in the book, all I knew of prison was the old "The first thing you do of you ever come to prison, is to find the biggest guy in the yard and...punch him in the face!". This mentality was woven into every prison story I had heard. In the movies, all the huge convicts would be standing in racial groups, muscles flexing, all wearing shanks under their waistline. That's all I saw, because that's all the media ever told me about prison. So, I went to prison and played the part of the "solid convict". The killer of killers. Not long after I arrived at one of the two maximum security prisons in Washington State, I was sent for a year's worth of isolation in "the hole" after committing my first act of violence in prison. I was the picture perfect stereotype that society painted. Every prisoner in that place strove to be the baddest "convict" - the type you see in the movies. The idea is that if somebody who has never come to prison thinks they're about to enter complete hell, then why would they ever come dressed for the winter?
I'm giving you such an abbreviated narrative that I feel compelled to let you fill in the gaps by reading A.C. Shilton's article from the magazine Popular Mechanics. They did very well conveying my story, and it would serve to complement any gaps I leave...but my goal is to capture something different here.
What key moments led you to where you are now?
I found mathematics while sitting in the hole, and it consumed everything around me in such a way that the loudness of the prisoners in the neighboring cells became muted, and I found an incredible focus doing something. For the first time in my life, my heart was attuned to my mind. Here, I was finding beauty in such basic things, like truth. In fact, the inevitable truth of mathematics led me to investigate the truths inside myself. I explored each of these, only to find that the truths about myself were often lies that I trained myself to believe. Lies about who I was and what I truly valued, lies about my crime, and the lies that I told myself in order to have the ability to look myself in the mirror.
Mathematics has led me to empathy and beauty and Love, all of which have been focused in my heart towards Justice. That is my true path.
So again.. that key moment was an instant where I heard my old associates yelling back and forth between the cells, the same old talk. The only difference was the way I heard it and processed it. It no longer had the jagged appeal to me; instead, their words struck against a value that I could no longer ignore. In this moment, I saw that my journey into mathematics was causing changes inside of my heart, for which no other past experience had been able to do before. It was like I was standing beside myself, watching mathematics rewire a broken piece of machinery. That day, I stood in front of the bare concrete wall. The funny thing is that the wall no longer represented an oppressive security against me; instead, all I saw was a blank slate. Something bare. It became my source of power. I realized that this 25 year time period was the opportunity I never dreamt I would have. As I sat looking at the wall, I realized that in 25 years, I could become anything I wanted, so long as I dedicated my life to it. It was in that moment where I decided I'd become a mathematician.
Not long after, I was so absorbed in mathematics that it had become the foundation for the restructuring of my life - my values, my practices and my lifestyle. I met my first teacher, Professor Luisella Caire of the Polytechnic University of Turin, after a year and a half of my journey into mathematics. She was the first person in the math community I met. Meet the scientists building a prison to STEM pipeline.
Under her guidance, I soon began researching number theory, and not long after, her husband invited me to be a member of his research group. In 2020, I published my first joint paper as the primary author in a professional research journal by Springer - The Journal of Research in Number Theory.
What led you to create PMP and what goals do you have?
I'd like to continue making math and I'd like to continue establishing myself as a leader in the popularisation and diversification of mathematics. I also want to change the culture of prisons and redefine what productivity looks like in prisons.
I've worked very hard over the years to make sure that each of my goals complement each other in some way. My transformation into the man I am today was so powerful that wanted to recreate the conditions which led to my own success and rehabilitation for others. In 2020, we planned and executed the nonprofit Prison Mathematics Project (PMP). This nonprofit version of the PMP was built around the limitations of the pandemic and the restrictive nature of prisons to show prisoners that a lifestyle can exist around their passions for STEM and other higher education topics. The PMP is the beacon for prisoners who are interested in learning and growing, and expanding their understanding of the community and culture around the area of their interest in STEM. We work with hundreds of educators and mathematicians who work one-on-one with mathematical prisoners who have shown an interest in self-studies and self-rehabilitation. Our mentorships are designed as both a learning tool and as a soft introduction to the culture and community of mathematics. We are in the business of distancing from crime and our purpose is to understand the role of mathematics in self-identity.
How did your own experience with our judicial system and prison impact you?
Justice is not something that is served through the judicial department. The word "Justice" is something clean and beautiful, which should heal and change lives. Justice is not punishment and dehumanization. I believe that Justice is the job of the prisoner, and not any system meant to house prisoners. No duration of time constitutes the service of Justice. For example, if a ki||er were released from from prison with no remorse after a 30 year sentence, does *that* constitute Justice? No. And that is because Justice occurs when the person*owing* the justice begins fixing the behaviors that led them to making such tragic decisions in the first place. My time in contemplation has taught me that the justice for my crimes is my responsibility, and that in my heart, I will always live in a way that my path in life speaks to the essence of Justice. I choose Justice as a lifestyle, and in my case, I do this through mathematics and my work as a humanitarian with honor and love.
How can our society de-stigmatize people who have spent time in prison and support their personal growth upon release?
I believe that we need to stop painting prisons and prisoners as the horrific versions of reality from the movies and media. We need to start showing what Justice *should* look like among our
prisoners. We need to recognize that there are people in prisons who are doing amazing things.
I believe that de-stigmatization of prisoners will start with changing what we show our nation in the media and movies. We don't need to see any more of the negative dramatizations of prison. What we need are glimpses inside of what is possible for prisoners. Let's show them that they can achieve dreams and goals with their the time they have in their service of Justice. We need to not only hold prisoners responsible to be better and more productive with their time in prison, but we must also be the ones to nurture these efforts while they happen.
What advice would you give to future inclusive inspirational leaders?
We do the best work when our hearts are overflowing with love. Saint Therese of Lisieux once said
something which I've become intimate with: I understood that all we accomplish, however brilliant, is worth nothing without love.
