Punishing Distress, Policing Belonging: A Case of Colonial Logics of the School-to-Prison Nexus

This case examines the school-to-prison nexus (STPN) through the experiences of Sarah, an eighth-grader at a borderlands middle school in El Paso. Using coloniality of knowing, emotions, and being as an analytic frame, the case illustrates how trauma signals—fight, dysregulation, and affiliation with older peers—are criminalized through zero-tolerance policies, surveillance, and alternative placement. It situates contemporary practices within longer histories of missionization, annexation, and segregation, showing how white-normed expectations shape discipline and access to opportunity. Teaching notes synthesize evidence on trauma-informed, restorative, and equity-oriented approaches. Discussion questions and activities guide leaders in redesigning policy, practice, and measurement, shifting from exclusion to coordinated supports, stabilizing enrichment, and building community trust through historical acknowledgment and co-design.