Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program: Alumni Facilitation Training for Building Communities

Oral Presentation

The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program is an organization that introduces university courses to carceral institutions across the U.S. and Canada. To date, over 12,000 students have taken part in an Inside-Out class, where Outside (university) students and Inside (incarcerated) students learn as peers. Both inside and outside the walls, alumni have sought to continue their Inside-Out experience and have done so through a number of programmatic avenues. The purpose of this thesis is to establish a set of foundational documents for an organization that will encourage and direct the growth of alumni activities. It is a first, practical step in the formation of a mutually strengthening and informative organization of inside and outside students into an international Inside-Out Alumni Association. The Inside-Out Program offers college-level courses inside carceral institutions. In the metaphorical comparison where Inside-Out represents university classes, Alumni strive to represent student groups by creating programmatic, “extra-curricular” opportunities that enhance the educational process through skill-building and professional workshops. This thesis consists of three sections: a manifesto detailing the mission and vision of outside alumni, essential policy, training, and resource documents, and a critical research essay. These documents will combine to describe the importance of alumni work, a practical work- product detailing policy and resources for alumni, and a critique of Inside-Out and the subsequent Alumni Association.