Vergara was working with a unique demographic — his students ranged from 18 to more than 80-years-old. Instead of a UW classroom, they gathered in an all-male minimum security corrections facility. His students were inmates at the Oakhill Correctional Institute, about 30 minutes south of Madison.
At the time, Vergara was the program coordinator for the Oakhill Prison Humanities Project. It received its first major grant in 2013, giving numerous inmates at the Oakhill facility the chance to take classes in the humanities. About 20 UW graduate students and faculty teach courses in history, literature, art, drama, creative writing and philosophy.