IUPUI Students, Inmates to Celebrate Completion of Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program Course

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Some of them are Indiana prison inmates and others are college students enrolled at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. But when they sit together in a class, they are all students -- inside students and outside students.

On April 23, 2009, participants in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program classes at the Plainfield Re-Entry Educational Facility (PREF) took part in end-of-semester celebrations. Wednesday (April 29, 2009) a celebration will be held for participants at the Indiana Women's Prison . This semester was the third time an Inside-Out course was offered at PREF and the second time at the Indiana Women's Prison.

"Once again, this has been a powerful and transformational experience for everyone involved," said Susan Hyatt, an IUPUI faculty member and one of the Inside-Out program instructors. "We very much look forward to honoring the students' accomplishments."

Students, family members, IUPUI professors and facility staff attend the celebrations. One was held mes and locations are:

Wednesday's celebration will be held from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. in the Indiana Women's Prison Chapel, 401 N. Randolph St., Indianapolis .

The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program began in 1997 when Temple University criminal justice professor Lori Pompa began taking "outside" students from Temple to study with "inside" students at prisons in the Philadelphia area. Since 2004, with help from a Soros Foundation grant, Pompa has made Inside-Out a national program, with courses taught in correctional facilities in more than 30 states.

IUPUI faculty members Hyatt and Roger Jarjoura completed Inside-Out instructor training in the summer of 2006. Hyatt is an associate professor of anthropology in the School of Liberal Arts. Jarjoura is an associate professor of criminal justice in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. The first Inside-Out class in Indiana took place at the Plainfield Re-Entry Educational Facility in 2007.

"Like the previous Indiana courses, this semester's course at the PREF has been a great success," Jarjoura said. "I am very impressed with both the inside and the outside students."

The course was successfully completed by six inside students and seven outside students at PREF, where the topic of the course was "Punishment and Reformation;" and by six inside students and 11 outside students at the Indiana Women's Prison, where the topic of the course was "Women and Social Action."

Note: News media who wish to attend Thursday's event at the Plainfield Re-Entry Educational Facility may contact Dalton Haney, public information officer, at 317-839-7751, ext. 4111 or dhaney@idoc.in.gov. Media who wish to attend the event at the Indiana Women's Prison should contact Betty Cunningham at 317-639-2671 ex. 298 or bcunningham@idoc.in.gov or Steve Hinnefeld at IU University Communications, 812-856-3488 or slhinnef@indiana.edu.

(Updated from IU News Room Release)