“The Power of Education and Life-Changing Experiences Behind Prison Walls”

An idea conceived in a prison classroom 25 years ago has grown into The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, an international movement comprising more than 200 correctional and higher education partnerships, 1,300 trained instructors, two dozen think tanks, and 60,000 students worldwide who have benefited from these life-changing courses.

Lori Pompa, founder and executive director of The Inside-Out Center at Temple University, along with justice-impacted trainers (formerly incarcerated), will discuss the power of education behind prison walls and share their inspiring life stories. The Inside-Out educational program brings together campus-based college students and justice-impacted/incarcerated students for semester-long courses held in prisons, jails or other correctional facilities.

Pompa has been going into prisons for more than 35 years, taking thousands of students and others into correctional facilities through a variety of courses and exchanges. She has been a faculty member in criminal justice at Temple University since 1992, and began the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program as a single class in 1997.

Pompa’s work aligns with Cal Lutheran’s commitment to experiential learning. The first Cal Lutheran Inside-Out Prison Exchange immersion course began in 2018 with the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department in partnership with the Todd Road Jail in Ventura County. Since then, Cal Lutheran has offered two other Inside-Out classes and expanded the partnership to the Ventura County Probation Agency and the Ventura County Adult Reporting and Resource Center.