Prison Inside Out 2
Working together (from l-r): Wisconsin Women's Correctional System Warden Cathy Jess, Jessica Wyman, Brenda Mick, Kristine Frankiewicz, Dr. Carmen Heider of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, and Kalen Ruck, Corrections Program Supervisor. |
Group Work
A core component of Heider's course is the final group project
in which the students construct a model prison. The project resulted in
a 10-page paper, "Developing a Model Facility for Women in the
Wisconsin Prison System," which was submitted to Cathy (Braun) Jess,
BS Criminal Justice '86, warden of Wisconsin Women's Correctional
System, and to the Department of Corrections in Madison.
The
students explored policies, management, architecture and structure,
necessary services and programming. Some suggestions include creating a
circular garden that would be tended by the residents, outfitting each
laundry room with a table for folding, ID cards for residents that they
could use to swipe into any room they enter (laundry, classrooms,
cafeteria, etc.).
The warden welcomed the Inside-Out Program,
believing that such a class structure would be beneficial to both sets
of students. While the Outside students got an up-close-and-personal look at
prison life, the Inside students received a view of a different world
beyond the barbed wire fence. "It's given them an opportunity to look
at college as part of a re-entry type of program," Jess says.
Prompting Change
The Way In: The looming gate to Taycheedah Correctional Institution. |
Inside
student Kristine Frankiewicz says she and other inmates at Taycheedah
offer a perspective about prison life only those who live it day-to-day
could. "At first, I was very nervous because I wasn't sure of how they
were going to react to us, how they were going to be judging us," says
Frankiewicz of the students from UW Oshkosh. "With this class, they got a better
understanding of why people are here, and that we're actually people,
not just numbers or mass murderers."
Frankiewicz says she plans
to continue her studies after she is released, hoping for a career in
communications. "I want to help the outside public understand more
what's going on in the prisons and help the prisoners when they get
out," she says.
As a class assignment, the students wrote to
federal lawmakers about their concerns and suggestions. "Without this
program, I never would have gone and written a senator or a congressman
and let them know what I thought," says Frankiewicz, who has written to
U.S. Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and has encouraged other like-minded inmates
to do the same.
"If he gets enough mail, they're going to make a difference. We're all going to make a difference."
Corrections
Program Supervisor Kalen (Stofflet) Ruck, BSW Social Work '97, says the
Inside-Out Exchange Program has help the inmates see a future from
themselves. "A lot of them have written letters to the university to
say, 'I'm getting out soon. Can I be accepted to your university?'"
Lessons Learned
Troy Landry |
Outside
student Troy Landry plans to use the lessons he's learned from the
course and apply them to his life. "Knowing the state of women in the
criminal justice system, they need to be advocated for and they need a
louder voice."
As only one of only two males in the class of 20,
Landry says he didn't feel targeted. "I know the power that males have
in this society," says Landry, a senior, who is a major in criminal
justice and women's studies.
Landry says the Inside-Out class
helped him see the inmates as people. "I know a lot of problems in the
criminal justice system is labeling offenders as offenders. They wear
name tag that has 'offender' on it before you see their name."
He
was especially moved by one specific moment in class. "One of the
Inside students disclosed her case right before we left, and when she
did, it touched everybody's heart. I'm sure there wasn't one person in
that room who didn't have tears in their eyes."
Landry's voice
softened, recalling that touching scene. "No matter what crime she
committed, we knew that she was still a person, and we knew that she
had values and a life, a family outside of the prison."
While
Landry mulls over attending graduate school after graduation, he is
sure about one thing: "I know that I will advocate for women in prison
and also for women outside for the rest of my life."
COLS Special Reports student intern Katie Holliday contributed to this report. Photos by Shawn McAfee of UW Oshkosh Media Services.
For more information about the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, please visit the Inside-Out Center, which is based out of Temple University.