Narrative non-fiction stories of the school-to-prison pipeline: Are discipline alternative educational programs the pump station

This research project used the Narrative Non-fiction method to examine the school-to-prison pipeline phenomenon through the experiences of four previously incarcerated adult males who had been placed in Discipline Alternative Educational Programs (DAEPs) during their public school education. In 1981, DAEPs were instituted as a pilot program to educate disruptive students in the state of Texas by a Select Committee on Public Education. Data was collected through a series of interviews with each participant in the home setting to examine perceptions of how their academic, social, and emotional needs were met or not met in DAEPs. Four primary themes and several patterns emerged that illuminate how human experiences in a DAEP setting may be connected to incarceration beyond public schooling.