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Mary Sutton, Ph.D. is a 2026 graduate of the PhD Program in Leadership and Change at Antioch University.
Mary Sutton at her Dissertation Defense.
From L-R: Dr. Amy Lesen, Committee Member, Dr. Aqeel Tirmizi, Committee Chair, Dr. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Committee Member (not shown).
Dissertation Committee
- Aqeel Tirmizi, PhD, Committee Chair
- Amy Lesen, PhD, Committee Member
- Jessica Gordon-Lembhard, PhD, Committee Member
Keywords
abolition, appreciative inquiry, carceral, critical constructivism, critical theory, cooperatives, co-operatives, co-operative principles and values, co-operative inquiry, critical complex sustainability, democracy, eco-systems, feminism, jail, leadership, parole, participatory inquiry, prison, prison industrial complex, probation, sustainability
Document Type
Dissertation
Publication Date
2026
Abstract
The United States incarcerates more people than any other country. Each month, tens of thousands of people across the country are released from prison or jail. Most return to communities that are economically, socially, and environmentally disenfranchised. The cycling of targeted populations in and out of the carceral system has imposed devastating consequences and inequities on poor Black and Brown communities, consequences that will reverberate for generations. The literature indicates a need for a critical sustainability assessment tool to examine incarceration policies and measure their real impacts on individuals, families, and communities. There is a need for sustainable solutions to shift the current paradigm towards a co-operative care economy and away from incarceration. There is also a need for greater awareness of the co-operative business model as an alternative framework for sustainable development that can meet the community’s economic, social, and environmental needs. In this mixed-methods study, eleven co-researchers implemented a Co-operative Inquiry (CI) and an exploratory survey to examine the principles and values of co-operative economics and sustainability. The flowing question guided this research: how can these principles and values inform positive change with communities impacted by incarceration? Findings from the study demonstrate that participants who are impacted by incarceration and living in communities that are socially and economically marginalized want to have a voice in conversations that affect the world around them. They care deeply about the environment and are concerned for future generations. Co-researchers and survey respondents want to support change in their community. The study team proposes to move forward through research, dialogue, and action. Findings also demonstrate the power of co-operative inquiry as a transformative research tool and co-learning strategy. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu/) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).
Recommended Citation
Sutton, M. A. (2026). Exploring the Principles and Values of Co-operative Economics and Sustainability to Inform Positive Solutions with Communities Impacted by Incarceration. https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/1322
Included in
Adult and Continuing Education Commons, African American Studies Commons, African History Commons, Criminal Law Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, Native American Studies Commons, Prison Education and Reentry Commons, Public History Commons, Social History Commons, Women's Studies Commons
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Mary Sutton, Ph.D.
ORCID id: #0009-0006-2399-1961
Mary Agnes Sutton has been an artist and activist throughout her life. In Minneapolis, from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s, she worked in the anti-apartheid movement, educating the community about US support of sanctioned racial segregation in Southern Africa and supporting liberation movements in the region. Upon moving to Los Angeles in 2001, she joined local and statewide coalitions to stop prison and jail expansion.
Sutton has had a diverse career path: waiting tables, driving the city bus, silk-screening, and graphic design and digital production. In the past few decades, she has garnered more than 25 years of experience in nonprofit management, development, and programming. She also raised two beautiful daughters with the support of family and friends.
Through her work in the No More Jails Coalition in Los Angeles, Sutton was appalled at the number of lives being extracted from the community through incarceration, the devastation to individuals and families, and the lack of resources for people when they get out. In response, she entered MA in Urban Sustainability program at Antioch University Los Angeles and designed Collective REMAKE as her final capstone project.
Ten years later, Collective REMAKE is a thriving nonprofit in Los Angeles County designed to support the creation of worker-owned businesses and other kinds of co-operatives with people who have been incarcerated and other individuals who have been pushed out of the mainstream economy due to race, sex, class, gender identity, age or ability. Sutton proposes that co-operatives are a pathway to healthy economies, environmental wellness, and community empowerment.
While building Collective REMAKE, Sutton has earned her Ph.D. in Leadership and Change at Antioch University. Her exploration of leadership and change and Co-operative Inquiry has informed her work on the ground and vice versa. She is focusing on the development of unique cooperative education and development (CEAD) programming and organizational policy that integrates inclusive participatory practices, democratic decision-making, and complex sustainability thinking.