Some time ago I had a desire to work in a prison and I do not know why. Could it be because of the prison I visited three years ago, though, at the time it did not make an impression on me? More recently I have worked as an intern Research Assistant with the Warden Exchange, a program of Prison Fellowship located in the Washington DC area, and it has been one of the most valuable experiences I never expected to have.
I am ending a period of time off from Christopher Newport University, where I am pursuing a double major with a concentration in criminology. When I took the semester off, I had no real plans or jobs lined up (which my mom was not thrilled about). But now I am aspiring to someday work in a correctional facility with my own rehabilitation or reentry program focused on the inmate's needs. I started the new year googling any possible job, internship, or volunteer position even remotely related to criminal justice and corrections. It was not until I found the Prison Fellowship website and began talking with Pedro Moreno, director and innovative genius of the Warden Exchange, when I had realized I hit the college-kid jackpot.
The Warden Exchange works with wardens and top corrections professionals nationwide to empower them with skills in transformational leadership so they can create a prison culture conducive to the moral rehabilitation of inmates. This intern experience has been far from stereotypical. Sure, I've made a few photocopies here and there, but it has been much more rewarding that merely going on coffee runs. I have read many substantive documents and written summaries on topics spanning transformational leadership to gamification. Not only that, but I even got to travel to Boston with a team to help with the second residency with the Warden Exchange. I met a Navy SEAL Commander who has trained over 200 Navy SEALS (HOOYAH). I met Bernie Kerik, former Commissioner of the New York Police department, who instead of becoming Secretary of Homeland Security ended up in prison for three years. I met a professor from the John Jay School of Criminology, former VP with Price Waterhouse Coopers, legislators, the former prison head of the federal Supermax prison in Colorado where the Unabomber and Shoe Bomber are, and many more. My job was to help with audio visuals, prepare short videos, help with the lights, the prison alarm for an exercise we did, and other live injects in this very interactive event.
My boss, Pedro, has not only helped me strengthen skills required in the office and life, but also helped me solidify and affirm my passion for criminal justice reform. It can be hard for me, and I assume for all of us sometimes, to receive feedback and critiques. But Pedro has taught that it is okay to be teachable and to always "attack the problem and not the person." Everyone I have met is inspired to find positive change in a large, run down, and static system.
Our nation's recidivism rates are obscene and prisoners are not receiving the proper care, treatment, diagnoses, or rehabilitative measures they desperately need. The Office of Justice Programs at the National Institute of Justice released a study reporting that "67.8% of the 404,638 state prisoners released in 2005 in 30 states were arrested within 3 years of release" (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2014, http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/rprts05p0510.pdf). It is time to put the 'correction' back into corrections. Correctional facilities should be a crucial element in the deterrence of crime by providing proper rehabilitation programming before prisoners reenter society. Prisons should not solely be about punishing for crime (because clearly that has not worked so well in the past). The Warden Exchange works from the top-down to inspire hope in prison wardens.
There is power in believing that criminals can change. The Warden Exchange provides tools so prison wardens can become transformational leaders and in turn, help create a prison environment where prisoners start to believe that they can change for the better. Besides, if a prison warden is unwilling to provide their inmates with the necessary rehabilitation programming, then I am out of a job before I even graduate. We have a trip planned for next week to visit a Navy Consolidated Brig (a military prison) in Chesapeake, VA. Could this second prison visit finally reveal to me the reason why I really want to work with prisons and prisoners? This is the life of an intern. I never know what will come next.