Schools Offering College Courses to Inmates - Minnesota

Contacts:
Jennifer J Wingren
Associate Professor
School of Law Enfrcment & Crim Justice
Phone : (763)657-3760
Location : LECJEC
Email : jennifer.wingren@metrostate.edu

Program Description: The School of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice has held two successful classes at the Dakota County Law Enforcement Center. The Inside-Out program brings college students and incarcerated people together in a seminar setting to study criminal justice issues.

The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program is a dynamic partnership between institutions of higher learning and correctional systems. It is designed to deepen the conversation about and transform approaches to understanding crime, justice, freedom, inequality and other issues of social concern.

Metropolitan State University joined this national program because it brings college students together with incarcerated men and women to study as peers in a seminar behind prison walls.

Degrees Offered: N/A

Programs Offered: The “inside” and “outside” students attend class together inside the jail and are required to read a selection of books on issues on social justice and write several papers. Everyone in the class discusses issues in small and large groups and ultimately works together on class projects. Students completed class projects that developed life-skills programming options for the jail as well as ways to promote Inside-Out and encourage other facilities and institutions of higher learning to get involved.

Unique Features: N/A

Headquarters: St. Paul, MN

Correctional Facilities Served: Dakota County Jail

Population Served: School of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice students and incarcerated studnets

Number of Students: N/A

Graduates to Date: N/A

Year Founded: N/A

Founders: Lori Pompa (founder of Inside-Out model)

College/University/Organization Partnerships: Metropolitan State University

Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program (Owatonna)

Contacts: Kelly Harder, director, Steele County Human Services, at 507/444-7510 or email kelly.harder@co.steele.mn.us; (kristin.klamm-doneen@anokaramsey.edu)

Program Description: Kristin Klamm-Doneen, an ethics professor at Riverland, adapted Lori Pompa’s Inside-Out national program to fit the needs of the county facility. She presented the concept to county officials who were receptive to the idea. The program was approved in fall 2008 and had its first offering in January, with a for-credit course called Philosophy of Social Justice.

Degrees Offered: N/A

Programs Offered: Coursework involves reading criminal justice texts, writing papers, group discussions in class and two final group projects on institutionalization and designing a more successful re-entry program. The projects were presented to the jail administrator, the jail program coordinator, Steele County director of Human Services and a representative from Riverland Community College.

Unique Features: N/A

Headquarters: Owatonna, MN

Correctional Facilities Served: Steele County Detention Center

Population Served: College students majoring in human services and law enforcement and incarcerated students

Number of Students: N/A

Graduates to Date: N/A

Year Founded: 2008 (Riverland Community College adopted model)

Founders: Lori Pompa (founder of Inside-Out model)

College/University/Organization Partnerships: Riverland Community College