Fulton vs. Norfolk

The five Boston College Fulton Debating Society members had emptied their pockets, put their valuables into secured lockers, passed through metal detectors, and entered what to senior Naveen Senthilkumar seemed like “an air lock” – a small chamber with another door in front of them.

“And then the big metal door behind us clanked shut, and we couldn’t hear anything,” recalled Senthilkumar. 

Up until then, the impending visit to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk had seemed like “just another debate” to Senthilkumar and his Fulton teammates. But by the time the BC undergraduates, along with Director of Debate John Katsulas, entered this passageway, the fact that they were in a medium-security prison suddenly “seemed very real,” he said.

Yet within a matter of minutes, the BC visitors were in the prison auditorium and things seemed familiar again: At the front of the room was a podium and tables, one for the Fulton team and the other for their opponents that day – a team of MCI-Norfolk prisoners that had invited the students to come debate them, and now warmly greeted their guests. Just like any other debate. Read more about the expereince on BC News