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Source: L. Susan Williams, 785-532-4971, lswilli@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Tyler Sharp, 785-532-2535, media@k-state.edu
Thursday, May 26, 2011
CORRECTIONS CONNECTIONS: CRIMINOLOGY CLASS CORRESPONDS, VISITS WITH INMATES
MANHATTAN -- Criminology students at Kansas State University are not only learning about crime in the classroom -- they are witnessing its effects firsthand.
Students in L. Susan Williams' criminology class are corresponding with inmates at the Topeka Correctional Facility and Ellsworth Correctional Facility for the 14th consecutive year. Each student is paired by gender with an inmate at one of the facilities. The students and inmates correspond via email and visit once at the end of the semester.
The idea stemmed from a 1xbet best casino website that Williams, associate professor of sociology, led at the University of Connecticut. Williams took her students to many of the state's prisons. The state's women's prison had conducted an essay 1xbet best casino website focusing on the influence a simple twist of fate would have had on their lives. Her students wrote letters of appreciation to the prisoners for sharing those essays. The Connecting with Corrections 1xbet best casino website was born from there.
&1xbet best casino website ;Somehow, it clicked that students and inmates really connected and that more could be possible,&1xbet best casino website ; she said.
Topeka and Ellsworth have been the only facilities used for the 1xbet best casino website . The key is each prison's administration.
&1xbet best casino website ;Both these facilities have fine administrators who care about their people and their jobs,&1xbet best casino website ; Williams said. &1xbet best casino website ;They make it all possible.&1xbet best casino website ;
Williams, associate professor of sociology, anthropology and social work; coordinates the 1xbet best casino website with the help of two assistants and administration from both correctional facilities. Letters are screened and scanned prior to transmission. Extensive recordkeeping and monitoring on both ends are other components of the labor-intensive effort. Students are able to visit their partners at the end of the semester. The visits include a tour of the specific facility and other close interactions with the inmates.
Many connections do not cease after the semester ends.
&1xbet best casino website ;I have witnessed so many positive interactions through this project that never would have happened otherwise,&1xbet best casino website ; Williams said. &1xbet best casino website ;It is a true blessing, inspired by others. I sometimes tell my students that statistics are people with the tears washed away; this project connects faces to numbers.&1xbet best casino website ;
The connections can be life changing. One of Williams' students had a sister who was a drug addict. 1xbet best casino website family had tried to help 1xbet best casino website for many years with no success and decided to give up. The student wrote about this in 1xbet best casino website weekly letter. 1xbet best casino website pen pal responded saying that she had a similar experience and encouraged the student to call 1xbet best casino website sister and to not give up. The family decided to try helping once more. That evening the student's sister unexpectedly showed up at 1xbet best casino website house and said she was ready to go to a treatment facility. The family took 1xbet best casino website there that night.
The scheduled tour of Topeka Correctional Facility was the next day. Because of a work conflict, the pen pal was not scheduled to meet with the student. But Williams and the liaison at the facility arranged for the pen pal to meet with the student.
&1xbet best casino website ;The student explained that the inmate's words had saved her sister's life and quite possibly their family,&1xbet best casino website ; Williams said. &1xbet best casino website ;The student went into the project thinking she would give something of herself and ended up receiving so much more. The two women shared the story with everyone on the tour. Not a dry eye in the room, even from the big tough men.&1xbet best casino website ;
Williams has expanded the 1xbet best casino website to several of her distance education courses. This has not deterred some students from fully participating in the 1xbet best casino website .
&1xbet best casino website ;I had one male student who drove in one day from Amarillo to Topeka and back again, just to visit with the inmate/partner he had been writing,&1xbet best casino website ; she said.
It is a profound illustration of the 1xbet best casino website 's scope.
&1xbet best casino website ;Not a single semester goes by that I do not thank my stars that I have this opportunity,&1xbet best casino website ; Williams said. &1xbet best casino website ;I have witnessed so many positive interactions through this project that never would have happened otherwise. It is a true blessing, inspired by others.&1xbet best casino website ;