College students work alongside incarcerated persons, learning the same courses together
Since 2019, Gwynedd Mercy University Criminal Justice students have participated in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, an international program that brings incarcerated and non-incarcerated students together as peers. The program offers "outside" (college) students the unique opportunity to take a course with "inside" (incarcerated) students in a correctional facility and exchange thoughts and perspectives about social justice and the effectiveness of the criminal justice system.
Until this semester, only students at state correctional institutions have earned college credits toward the program. Now, “inside” students housed in a federal facility can also earn college credits, thanks to Dr. Patrick McGrain, Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of GMercyU’s Criminal Justice program, and Peter Lawrie, Associate Warden at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia.
“Offering inside students college credits recognizes that education is one of the pillars of rehabilitation,” said Dr. McGrain. “Education reduces re-offense rates and therefore, incarceration costs. There is no cost for the inside students; this is a way for us as a Mercy Institution to give back to society.”
Dr. McGrain teaches GMercyU students and their “inside” classmates at the FDC-Philadelphia. To qualify for the Inside Out program, incarcerated students must be in good standing at the correctional institution and have at least a GED or high school diploma. In the program, they complete the same work as their college peers and receive grades for that work, earning 3 credits that can be transferred to any college in the country.
With this change, Dr. McGrain and Lawrie have set a new standard for the Inside Out Prison Exchange program. Now, more correctional institutions are requiring participating colleges and universities to offer credits to inside students, recognizing the benefits to the students and the larger community.
