(BOP) - In 2010, FCC Hazelton became the first BOP institution to host the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program that allows prisoners and college students to benefit from studying crime, justice and related social issues together as peers. Over the past 5 1/2 years, 115 inmates (male and female) have participated, along with over 150 college students from West Virginia University and Fairmont State University. The inmates and college students meet once per week, for an entire semester, reading text books and writing papers. In addition, the class develops a project, generally geared toward re-entry initiatives.
The Inside-Out program enables college students to gain perspective on the criminal justice system, and inmates an opportunity to place their life experiences in a larger framework. Inmate participant Dwight Harrison from FCC Hazleton, views Inside-Out as an "opportunity to be part of the solution of our failures" and thinks of it as an "extension of usefulness in a world full of learned helplessness."
In 2013, Inside-Out was implemented at FCI Morgantown, and now, nearing the end of its 4th class, 31 WVU students and 31 inmates have participated.