Student arrested for poking around prison with pot

Katie Paul News Editor

When Africana Studies major Jessica Kibblewhite ’07 visited a New York State prison to conduct research for her senior theis, she had no idea that she would soon become a part of that research.

On Tuesday March 13, state police arrested Kibblewhite outside the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility and charged her with trespassing and marijuana possession after correctional officers caught her in an area closed to visitors and later found marijuana in her car.

Rather than passing through the police blotter in relative obscurity, though, local coverage of the incident has generated heated responses concerning Vassar College’s standing in the community.
Kibblewhite, whose thesis is a semi-fictional project examining gender and social grouping in the incarceration system, was attempting to schedule interviews with prison officials at the state’s only maximum-security prison for women. She had worked with the Green Haven Prison on similar issues for two years. Kibblewhite was unable to gain access to the official, but decided to examine the exterior of the buildings while on the grounds.

According to an article published in The Journal News on March 15, state police Sgt. Joseph Lutz explained that, after leaving the facility, “she went outside to the parking lot and then began to drive her car around some areas that had been blocked off to outsiders, you know, like ‘no trespassing’ areas. That's where they ended up catching her.”

Kibblewhite claims, however, that the road was marked with a sign that read “no vehicles,” which she interpreted to mean that walking was permissable. She was stopped by security personnel, who, according to Kibblewhite, told her that “many people make that mistake,” but also that the area had been used recently for illicit purposes.

Supervisors and state troopers were summoned, at which point Kibblewhite was arrested and charged with trespassing. Concerned that she might have a weapon or camera with pictures of the facility, the officers searched Kibblewhite’s car and asked her if anything illegal was inside. She initially replied “no,” but, after reconsideration, alerted officers that they might find marijuana in the glove compartment.

“At that point, I wanted to be as honest and straightfoward as possible,”said Kibblewhite. Lutz confirmed to The Journal News that “she came forward and was totally honest.” When officers found the marijuana, she was charged with possession.

Since then, articles have been published about the incident in The Journal News’ and Poughkeepsie Journal’s print and online versions. Existing tensions between the College and the community have played out in the papers’ online forums, citing Kibblewhite’s experience as a prime example of Vassar privilege.

As one commentator wrote, “Daddy will send the check to pay the fine and all will be OK for Ms. Kibblewhite.” Another commented that for the “Liberal elite,” “there is no actual crime if you have the correct ‘feeling’ at the time.” Yet another suggested that she be traded as a hostage for “all of the Vassar-inspired ‘improvements’ on Raymond Avenue,” a subject that has prompted its own extended debate in similar forums.

Many of the comments have concentrated on one particular statement Kibblewhite made to The Journal News. “I don't think they'd come across anything like me before,” she said. “Wandering down the road with a little a purse on, black pants, black sweater, a Vassar College girl outfit. I didn’t fit the bill of anyone trying to organize a prison break.”

Kibblewhite told The Miscellany News that the reporter had specifically asked her what she had been wearing that day. But others interpreted the comment as the quintessence of Vassar snobbery.

“So she knows what an individual or individuals who are organizing dress like!” read one comment. “I didn’t realize women students at Vassar wear uniforms!” Another post came to her defense, identifying “elitism, privilege, and stupidity” as the issues and calling her “the target of a smear campaign.”

Kibblewhite herself called the experience “incredibly painful,” but added that “what’s caused so much grief was not the event itself” but the “unfortunate” fallout in the media coverage and posted comments.

“From the article I do sound like a silly Vassar girl, [a stereotype of the College] that is not at all unwarranted,” she said. “It made me sound like a bigger idiot than I was, like a stuck-up Vassar kid who thought that she should be granted access, when that was not the case. It also shows that people who are put in positions to control laws don’t always have the best discretion. There’s a lot of ambiguity.”