Findings suggest that prisons are alienating places that sever or suspend the prisoner’s sense of community and restrict the possibility for desire for social and civic participation; one of the most significant challenges facing the correctional educator is an issue of trust and respect. In ethical educational conversations, teachers are relating and modeling what it is like to be in the same social and physical space with another in an atmosphere where care, respect, inclusion reciprocity, recognition, and the autonomy of others is privileged. Prison schools as civil spheres have the potential to combat the nihilistic, distancing anomic culture of the prison which is anti-restorative and anti-democratic, because the educational conversation affords students opportunity for involvement in spheres of civility where mutual recognition, new identities, and possibilities grounded in hope can prevail. These conversations on the inside have broad implications for crime and community life. Teachers work as transformative intellectuals in the democratic spirit when they engage students in ethical conversations that build community and trust. A conceptual framework is proposed that focuses on ethical communication practices, and enables teachers to reflect upon the social and ethical dimensions of their practice. Tables and references