2008 Woodie Awards
Breaking barriers behind bars
Erika Campos
Issue date: 3/28/08 Section: News
Junior criminology and criminal justice and psychology major Emily Hepler wants to be a criminal profiler - and she's getting an early start.
Hepler, along with six other students on the campus, have started the volunteer group Prison Break. The organization, whose members volunteer at the Maryland Correctional Institution in Jessup, Md., has existed since last spring. But when the students dreamed up the group, they didn't know what they were getting into, Hepler said.
"The first time I did it, I didn't understand what it was or what we were going to do, and so I was intimidated because I didn't know what to expect," she added.
Though Hepler had never been to a prison before, she joined the group "out of sheer curiosity." The group was created by alumnus Michael Mintz, who, while watching Prison Break one night in fall 2006, "wanted to know if prisoners were allowed to watch Prison Break." A quick search on Google later produced no results, but Mintz decided to search for volunteer opportunities in prisons to find out directly from the prisoners.
He then found information about the Touchstones Discussion Project, an organization that believes "through collaborative discussions of serious ideas, we learn to understand and respect each other," according to its website. Discussions with students, prisoners and the elderly are facilitated by Touchstones, which puts together a book of about 150 articles that trained discussion leaders choose from to talk about.
With Prison Break, volunteers such as Hepler meet with eight to 10 medium-security prisoners who have been on good behavior for an hour each Thursday, and help them learn better interpersonal and communication skills. As a result of these interactions, the prisoners can carry themselves well when in front of a parole committee, Hepler explained.
The group also facilitates and engages in discussions with prisoners about the social implications of writings from theorists such as Descartes and novels such as Frankenstein, Hepler added.
Hepler, along with six other students on the campus, have started the volunteer group Prison Break. The organization, whose members volunteer at the Maryland Correctional Institution in Jessup, Md., has existed since last spring. But when the students dreamed up the group, they didn't know what they were getting into, Hepler said.
"The first time I did it, I didn't understand what it was or what we were going to do, and so I was intimidated because I didn't know what to expect," she added.
Though Hepler had never been to a prison before, she joined the group "out of sheer curiosity." The group was created by alumnus Michael Mintz, who, while watching Prison Break one night in fall 2006, "wanted to know if prisoners were allowed to watch Prison Break." A quick search on Google later produced no results, but Mintz decided to search for volunteer opportunities in prisons to find out directly from the prisoners.
He then found information about the Touchstones Discussion Project, an organization that believes "through collaborative discussions of serious ideas, we learn to understand and respect each other," according to its website. Discussions with students, prisoners and the elderly are facilitated by Touchstones, which puts together a book of about 150 articles that trained discussion leaders choose from to talk about.
With Prison Break, volunteers such as Hepler meet with eight to 10 medium-security prisoners who have been on good behavior for an hour each Thursday, and help them learn better interpersonal and communication skills. As a result of these interactions, the prisoners can carry themselves well when in front of a parole committee, Hepler explained.
The group also facilitates and engages in discussions with prisoners about the social implications of writings from theorists such as Descartes and novels such as Frankenstein, Hepler added.
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Chelsea
posted 3/28/08 @ 5:43 AM EST
Touching. You know what would be even better? If these same people would go talk to victims and their families and to help them through the healing process of being a victim of a crime, instead of pretending that some hug a thug class is going to do anything to change the mindset of a proven criminal. (Continued…)
Melissa
posted 4/11/08 @ 9:17 PM EST
Uh, if I read the article correctly, these kids are majoring in criminology. Hepler in particular wants to be a criminal profiler.
There are tons of victims advocate groups out there, so whats wrong with giving medium security prisoners a chance at educating themselves, being productive when they get out, and the kids a chance at learning something about criminals in general?
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