Joseph Lea holds a BA in Economics (St. Anslem College), a JD in Law (Catholic University) a LLM in International law (University of Notre Dame), and Connecticut teaching certifications in History/Social Studies and as a Library Media Specialist. He began his education career at the York Correctional Institution for women as a teacher in 1995 and became the library media specialist in 2003. At York CI, he has also coordinated the arts programming at the prison. In 2006 he took a sabbatical from York CI to pursue an MA Degree program in Applied Theatre at the University of Manchester in England. His dissertation was entitled The Role of Audience as Witness in Prison Performance.  In 2007, he was invited to lead a panel at the Arts in Criminal Justice national conference.  In 2008 he served on the organizational committee for the Building Bridges: Women Prison and the Arts Conference held at Trinity College and in the spring of 2008 he was an adjunct professor at Central Connecticut State University where he taught a course entitled The Art of Correction.