The Process

Finding Interviewees

I was set on researching healthcare within prisons, but I had no idea what my output would look like; I had never done extensive research on a topic like this before. My supervisor, Kaytlin, recommended that I do an infographic, posters, an interview series... An interview series! That's the one. My first couple of weeks during my internship at PNHP were primarily research-based, and like many others, I found it difficult to sit still in front of my computer for 8 hours a day. I was excited to connect with others through my interview series project, being able to conduct qualitative research while listening to their stories.

After I had decided on the interview project, it was pretty daunting for me to realize that my entire project was dependent on people's willingness to open my email, read through the sloppiness of it, agree to an interview, schedule an interview, and show up to it.

Here's a list of everyone I contacted.

Calling people proved to be frustrating. Since my project was originally centered around medical systems and mental health in prisons, I wanted to make sure that I was able to invite someone who worked in correctional health to speak in my interview series (thank you, Dr. Stephens!). It wasn't easy though. I also had a number of people tell me that the best narratives would be those that came from currently or previously incarcerated people themselves. I had no idea how to even go about such a feat.

The first for-profit correctional healthcare organization I called flat out said no. "No, we don't really do that. Sorry. Nope," is what I remember from that phone call before I awkwardly hung up. I called Kaytlin, my supervisor, after that conversation and just had to take a moment to reflect on how uncomfortable that was for me. I pushed on. Other correctional healthcare organizations offered me an email for me to contact but never responded after I sent an introduction about my project. I called one organization every day for a week to ask if the holder of the email address I was given was in the office before I finally gave up. With a different correctional healthcare organization, I called almost all of the regional offices under the main corporate office, using the same introduction every single time: "Hi, my name is Andrea Yeung. I'm a student, and I was wondering if I was able to interview members of _________ for a project I'm creating about healthcare in prisons." It was awkward when different regional offices had the same operator.

My luck skyrocketed when I contacted members of the program I was completing this summer, Engage Chicago. Thanks to Mary Scott-Boria and Heidi Gross, I was able to set up interviews with Orlando Mayorga, Raphel Jackson, and Rachel Gross. Not to mention that I was able to speak with Rachel Caidor, who works as an instructor for Engage Chicago. I owe so much to them.

A small scary moment during the interview process was the fact that even though I had scheduled interviews with people, there were likely four different occasions where the interviewee wasn't able to show up to the call at the scheduled time. Of course, it was something that couldn't be avoided, I gave them grace, and we were able to reschedule, but it was discouraging in the moment to have it be a reoccurring thing.

Transcribing

Transcribing was arguably the most painful and definitely the longest part of this entire process. I was certain from the beginning that I wanted to change the medium of information from sound to writing. That way, the words would become more malleable and I would be able to rearrange the information in a way that optimized its efficacy and reach. So, I was set on doing that.

Initially, I played the audio at regular speed and tried typing along with it. I have a pretty high WPM, but even if I was typing my best, I kept up for probably 5-6 seconds at most. So, it was a lot of frustrating pausing and playing. When I transcribed the interview with the audio at regular speed, the ratio between the length of the interview and the time it took me to transcribe it was something like 1:3. On average, the transcriptions for Dan Marshall's and Rachel Gross's interviews took me about 4-5 hours each. A couple of recommendations were made to me to try using a transcribing app, and I was able to test some of those out. However, these apps didn't fit my desire to preserve as much of the speaker's voice as possible, not to mention that the automated transcriptions were riddled with mistakes. It was also another feat to try and use proper syntax and grammar in order to translate colloquial spoken language into formal writing. I decided to do it on my own.

It took much too long for me to realize that slowing down the audio would allow for me to minimize the number of times I had to press pause and play. After slowing the audio down, the interview lengths were stretched from approximately 1.5 hours to 2.25 hours, but the ratio between the audio and transcription time narrowed to 1:1.5 or 1:2. My frustration also dipped with the ratio, which is something I valued even more.

Overall, transcribing took a lot, lot, lot out of me. Raphel's interview took me a horrifically long time to transcribe because of the poor Internet connection we had when we were having our interview. Therefore, I had to keep replaying certain sections of the audio in order to try and decipher what he said. Eventually, I just emailed Raphel with some fill-in-the-blank questions so that I didn't mess anything up. I remember transcribing Raphel's 1.5 hour interview from 10 am to 4 pm that day.

Website Building

I had complete freedom here. Everything was transcribed, and it was up to me to present the information in the way I saw it in my head. Right off the bat, I implemented the sections that I wanted to be featured at the top: By Topic, Must-Reads, Book Recommendations, Messages.

From there, it was a repetitive process of reading and rereading through the interviews. I think that at this point, I have experienced the full interview from each person four times: the actual interview, transcribing it, reading it for the By Topic and Must-Read sections, and rereading it for the insertion of links and interviewing reflections. If someone were to read any line of any interview, I would probably be able to tell you who said it and what question I was asking. I probably could have been more efficient with this process, but at least I was thorough. As long as the process was, it was an absolute delight to see how much I could do with just some dialogue. I was able to slice it and split it up in really powerful ways and find pieces of various interviews where speakers were talking to one another about the same topic. My hope now is that others are able to engage with these stories and narratives in the same way that I was able to.

Acknowledgements

To my interviewees, Dan Marshall, Rachel Gross, Jonathan Simon, Orlando Mayorga, Rachel Caidor, Raphel Jackson, Paul Wright, & David Stephens, you all are everything. This whole project is you all! Just... thank you! Thank you for reading my email, for picking up the phone, for answering my poorly-formed questions, and for connecting with me for this entire experience. The conversations I have had with each of you were life-changing, and pieces of your ideas and stories will remain with me for a really long time. There aren't enough words to show my appreciation for all of you!

To my supervisor, Kaytlin Gilbert, thank you a million times over. You have been by my side for this entire eight weeks, offering endless support, encouragement, and ideas. You are so, so brilliant, and you motivate me to stay true to myself and my skill set in all the work that I will do. Thank you.

To my Engage Chicago staff, Mary Scott-Boria, Rachel Caidor, & Heidi Gross, thank you so much for everything that you have done for me with this interview series. Mary, I loved having you as my discussion leader, and I will forever cherish the time that I was awkwardly on the floor of my room literally trying to pull myself up from my imaginary bootstraps. Half of my interview series would not have been made possible without the connections that you offered me. Rachel, I have an entire other section dedicated to you. You're an absolute powerhouse, and I strive to have just an ounce of your passion and authenticity every day. Heidi, a huge thank you for connecting me with your mom for this interview series. I greatly appreciate everything you have brought to my Engage Chicago experience this summer!

To my audience, thanks for visiting my work and experiencing the most transformative eight weeks of my undergraduate career. I hope that you were able to piece together certain ideas and engage with our speakers virtually as much as you could through this website. It means a lot to me that I have a place in sharing these impactful stories and being a part of this larger necessary discussion about the most brutal aspects of our society that we contribute to. I'm lucky to be able to share all of this with you. Please don't hesitate to contact me for suggestions or revisions!