Lackawanna County Prison hosts new programs for female inmates

March 04--When Laura Bopp learned many jails offer few recreational and literacy programs, the University of Scranton education and English major wanted to help fill the gap at Lackawanna County Prison.

The senior's idea, inspired by the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice in Washington, D.C., grew into a five- to six-week creative writing program the Campus Ministries' Center for Service and Social Justice offers women housed at the county jail through student volunteers.

"It was amazing seeing the growth with the students and the inmates, just how much they've learned from each other and how much they've gotten out of it," the 21-year-old from the Long Island area said. "That's a really beautiful thing, that we can all relate to each other even though we come from very different backgrounds."

The initiative is one of three new programs for female inmates at the Scranton facility, along with a sexual assault education program run by the Women's Resource Center and Keystone College's Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program.

Keeping people busy

"You know that old saying, 'idle hands are the devil's workshop,'" Warden Tim Betti said. "I'm a big proponent of keeping people busy and of effective programs."

The University of Scranton program is in its second semester and is expected to become a regular fixture at the facility, said Amy Fotta, service coordinator at the center for service and social justice. It accommodates 10 to 20 inmates at a time.

Fotta said everything about the venture exceeded her expectations, including the enthusiasm of student volunteers, the extent to which prisoners embraced it, the talent and creativity level of some inmates and the interest and cooperation of prison administration.

The first semester focused on exercises such as black-out poetry, word mandalas and different group members contributing pieces to create a story. This semester, volunteers are teaching storytelling concepts with the goal of inmates creating original works of fiction and nonfiction.

Grant funding

The Women's Resource Center sexual assault education program, funded for one year by a $58,000Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency grant, will run in six-week cycles, serving about 15 women at a time.

Peg Ruddy, executive director of the nonprofit, said a disproportionate number of women who end up in jail have been victims of sexual abuse at some point in their lives.

She attributed some types of behavior that land many women in jail, including drug and alcohol abuse and shoplifting, to unhealthy coping mechanisms and side effects of trauma that left lasting damage.

The initiative is geared toward helping inmates realize what happened isn't their fault, make connections between trauma and their behavior, get the help they need and therefore not get arrested again.

The Keystone College Inside-Out Prison Exchange program, which ran at State Correctional Institution at Waymart for about 10 years, is a criminal justice course during which students and inmates learn side-by-side in a classroom setting.

Stacey Wyland, an associate professor of criminal justice, sees value in future criminal justice professionals dispelling preconceived notions about people in prisons, while inmates might gain confidence that they can go to college and turn their lives around after they are released.

"It's kind of a hybrid program in that it's mentoring and educational," she said. "It's our hope that the group will discover that you can't judge a book by its cover, that we're all similar no matter how varied our life experiences may be."

Contact the writer:

kwind@timesshamrock.com

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